Said of software that is functional but easily broken by changes in
operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the
software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and
disastrously to abnormal but expected external stimuli; e.g., a file
system that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said
to be brittle. This term is often used to describe the results of a
research effort that were never intended to be robust, but it can be
applied to commercial software, which (due to closed-source
development) displays the quality far more often than it ought to.
Oppose {robust}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {brute force}{crock}{fragile}{robust}{smart}]