# A Higgs-bugson in the Linux Kernel

DevFeed: [A Higgs-bugson in the Linux Kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/a-higgs-bugson-in-the-linux-kernel-20143.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.janestreet.com/a-higgs-bugson-in-the-linux-kernel/>)

Author: Nikhil Jha

Published: 2025-07-02T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Jane Street](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jane-street.md>)

Topics: [bug](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/bug.md>), [Kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kernel.md>), [Linux](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/linux.md>), [debug](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/debug.md>), [Filesystems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/filesystems.md>), [POSIX](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/posix.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>)

Tags: [bug](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bug.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data.md>), [debug](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/debug.md>), [filesystem](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/filesystem.md>), [kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kernel.md>), [linux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux.md>), [linux-kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-kernel.md>), [posix](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/posix.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [trading](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/trading.md>)

## AI overview

A Jane Street engineering post investigates a difficult-to-reproduce bug affecting large file copies in Gord, a system that stores and distributes trading activity data. It explains the role of NFS, Kerberos authentication, and Linux kernel credential handling during the debugging process.

## Source excerpt

We recently ran across a strange higgs-bugson that manifested itself in a critical system that stores and distributes the firm's trading activity data, called Gord. (A higgs-bugson is a bug that is reported in practice but difficult to reproduce, named for the Higgs boson, a particle which was theorized in the 1960s but only found in 2013.) In this post I'll walk you through the process I took to debug it. I tried to write down relevant details as they came up, so see if you can guess what the bug is while reading along.