alt Hacker NewsThe best thing they could do to new PLC's would be to have the src code live alongside the firmware inside. So any new person would be able to open it and reason about it.
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> The best thing they could do to new PLC's would be to have the src code live alongside the firmware inside. So any new person would be able to open it and reason about it.
This is already the case. Some PLC allows you to store and retrieve the source code of the programmed directly in the flash of the PLC. Sometimes this feature is behind a higher access level or password.
Relatedly, I made an embedded product. I built a live CD (yes this was a while ago) for my employer with the entire development environment. As long as you can find an x86 machine with CD-ROM you could build, compile, test, and program using the exact environment I did twenty years ago.
Maybe today I'd do micropython on ESP32. Download text file from device, edit, upload back on.
You mean like, just hang a thumb drive on a lanyard inside of the cabinet -- with source code and such?
That will probably just disappear. Maybe with good intention or maybe with bad, but it's probably gone either way.
If it doesn't disappear, then it's hanging right there for any of the competitors to use. That's a problem for the original installer's ongoing employment.
And if it includes the programming software, then that lets Joe (from over in shipping) have a go at rejiggering the packaging machine. That's a problem for whoever has to pay someone with a clue to show up and fix it.