From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 7 23:37:22 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0812E16A4CE for ; Wed, 7 Jul 2004 23:37:22 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mail48.e.nsc.no (mail48.e.nsc.no [193.213.115.48]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 20A4943D1D for ; Wed, 7 Jul 2004 23:37:21 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from harald@skogtun.org) Received: from basilikum.skogtun.org (ti100710a080-3044.bb.online.no [80.213.235.228]) by mail48.nsc.no (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i67NbIw4008882; Thu, 8 Jul 2004 01:37:19 +0200 (CEST) Received: by basilikum.skogtun.org (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 36886247A9; Thu, 8 Jul 2004 01:37:17 +0200 (CEST) To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org References: <200407062323.02854.kirk@strauser.com> <20040707043251.GA35651@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> <200407062345.24117.kirk@strauser.com> <20040707070012.GC38356@dragon.nuxi.com> <20040707163853.GA7063@dragon.nuxi.com> From: Harald Arnesen Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 01:37:17 +0200 In-Reply-To: <20040707163853.GA7063@dragon.nuxi.com> (David O'Brien's message of "Wed, 7 Jul 2004 09:38:53 -0700") Message-ID: <87eknn9yoi.fsf@basilikum.skogtun.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) Emacs/21.3 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailman-Approved-At: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 11:37:00 +0000 cc: Kirk Strauser Subject: Re: Rewrite cvsup & portupgrade in C X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2004 23:37:22 -0000 "David O'Brien" writes: >> I'm confused. Once these applications are in binary form, what >> difference does it make what language they were written in? > > HUGE! Well maybe not HUGE, but huge. Languages such as Ada and Modula-3 > actually do bounds checking on arrays, for instance. The safety and > correctness of an application running depends on the language it is > written in. We should have a LOT less buffer overflows if an application > language were used for web servers, mail servers, and other network > daemons. This has always puzzled me. If, as the supporters of Ada, Modula, Oberon and so on claim, that the language an application is written in matters that much, why don't we see a mail server or other network daemons written in those languages? Aren't the people who know those languages interested in contributing to a secure system? -- Hilsen Harald.