Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 10:28:17 +0930 From: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> To: Alfred Perlstein <alfred@freebsd.org> Cc: Daniel Eischen <deischen@freebsd.org>, Colin Percival <cperciva@freebsd.org>, "freebsd-arch@freebsd.org" <freebsd-arch@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: RFC: Removing file(1)+libmagic(3) from the base system Message-ID: <20070524005817.GD46113@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <20070523195933.GM21795@elvis.mu.org> References: <46546E16.9070707@freebsd.org> <Pine.GSO.4.64.0705231346400.9867@sea.ntplx.net> <20070523195933.GM21795@elvis.mu.org>
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--YToU2i3Vx8H2dn7O Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline On Wednesday, 23 May 2007 at 12:59:33 -0700, Alfred Perlstein wrote: > * Daniel Eischen <deischen@freebsd.org> [070523 11:05] wrote: >> On Wed, 23 May 2007, Colin Percival wrote: >> >>> FreeBSD architects and file(1) maintainer, >>> >>> I'd like to remove file(1) and libmagic(3) from the FreeBSD base system >>> >>> Can anyone make a strong argument for keeping this code in the base system? >> >> Yes, because other OS's have it (file) in their base, and because >> it is a POSIX-defined utility. Please consider this a strong no. > > I agree with Daniel. <aol> Me too! </aol> One of the most stupid things I know in the Microsoft space is to identify files by external features such as their name; IIRC this has opened the way for trojans such as executables posing as images, etc. The obvious alternative is the "UNIX way": identify the files by their content, not their name. And that's precisely the purpose of file(1). Removing it seems counterproductive. Greg -- See complete headers for address and phone numbers. --YToU2i3Vx8H2dn7O Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFGVOMpIubykFB6QiMRAsvdAKCZBGY7kFhGoZ4pmQgSwDvfeURq7QCfScJU Vy9LCtzi7QnT3EuhkSm7LlY= =HnW3 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --YToU2i3Vx8H2dn7O--
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