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Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 01:36:34 +1000
From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
Message-Id: <199610151536.BAA14817@godzilla.zeta.org.au>
To: bde@zeta.org.au, luigi@labinfo.iet.unipi.it
Subject: Re: /sbin/init permission
Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, j@uriah.heep.sax.de
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>> Complete set of standard executables with annoying permissions in
>> -current:
>> 
>> -r-x------  1 bin   bin        20480 Oct  2 04:24 /sbin/init
>> -r-sr-x---  1 root  operator   12288 Oct  2 04:26 /sbin/shutdown
>> ---s--x--x  2 root  bin       286720 Oct  2 04:19 /usr/bin/sperl4.036
>> ---s--x--x  2 root  bin       286720 Oct  2 04:19 /usr/bin/suidperl
>> -r-sr-x---  1 uucp  uucp       90112 Oct  2 04:09 /usr/libexec/uucp/uuxqt
>> -r-x------  1 bin   bin        12288 Oct  2 04:42 /usr/sbin/watch
>...
>for suid applications there is a reason for being restrictive. For

I think security by obscurity is the only reason.  This doesn't apply
to free software.

Bruce