> there's a whole family of pool-corruption bugs that have workaround config settings and everything

Back in 2018, a former Oracle developer explained what it was like working on Oracle DB: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941

> Here is how the life of an Oracle Database developer is:

> - Start working on a new bug.

> - Spend two weeks trying to understand the 20 different flags that interact in mysterious ways to cause this bag.

> - Add one more flag to handle the new special scenario. Add a few more lines of code that checks this flag and works around the problematic situation and avoids the bug.

> - Submit the changes to a test farm consisting of about 100 to 200 servers that would compile the code, build a new Oracle DB, and run the millions of tests in a distributed fashion.

> - Go home. Come the next day and work on something else. The tests can take 20 hours to 30 hours to complete.

> - Go home. Come the next day and check your farm test results. On a good day, there would be about 100 failing tests. On a bad day, there would be about 1000 failing tests. Pick some of these tests randomly and try to understand what went wrong with your assumptions. Maybe there are some 10 more flags to consider to truly understand the nature of the bug.

> - Add a few more flags in an attempt to fix the issue. Submit the changes again for testing. Wait another 20 to 30 hours.

> - Rinse and repeat for another two weeks until you get the mysterious incantation of the combination of flags right.

Seems like their comment is still valid today.