This is a question I got quite often (read: 2 or 3 times) in the past few weeks.

The answer is not easy, because most people asking it are friends or family (non computer savvy) that found the URL on my IM status or in my email signature.

Let’s start with “what (is a) Signal Eleven“. Caveat lector: it’s boring.

I tend (somehow improperly) to mix and use the expression “Signal Eleven” and “Segmentation fault” interchangeably.

According to Wikipedia:

“a segmentation fault occurs when a program attempts to access a memory location that it is not allowed to access, or attempts to access a memory location in a way that is not allowed”

In some systems (Posix compliant, but if you’re reading this, it’s not going to tell you much :)) this is notified to the program via a “message” (a signal) called SIGSEGV, that is, usually, signal number 11.

Now you got the “what” .

The “why” is much simpler. This is a frustrating error a new programmer encounters during his experiments with programming, and may have security related implications.

Well, I am a programmer and I’m interested in security. The name reminds me (and my geek readers) of an anomalous situation, like those that I blog about sometimes.

In short: I really liked the name.

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