From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Jun 14 23:58:34 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from ren.detir.qld.gov.au (ns.detir.qld.gov.au [203.46.81.66]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E7F115432 for ; Mon, 14 Jun 1999 23:58:27 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from syssgm@detir.qld.gov.au) Received: by ren.detir.qld.gov.au; id QAA27108; Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:56:38 +1000 (EST) Received: from ogre.detir.qld.gov.au(167.123.8.3) by ren.detir.qld.gov.au via smap (3.2) id xmaa27096; Tue, 15 Jun 99 16:56:34 +1000 Received: from atlas.detir.qld.gov.au (atlas.detir.qld.gov.au [167.123.8.9]) by ogre.detir.qld.gov.au (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id QAA12595; Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:56:34 +1000 (EST) Received: from nymph.detir.qld.gov.au (nymph.detir.qld.gov.au [167.123.10.10]) by atlas.detir.qld.gov.au (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id QAA14919; Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:56:33 +1000 (EST) Received: from nymph.detir.qld.gov.au (localhost.detir.qld.gov.au [127.0.0.1]) by nymph.detir.qld.gov.au (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id QAA04733; Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:56:32 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from syssgm@nymph.detir.qld.gov.au) Message-Id: <199906150656.QAA04733@nymph.detir.qld.gov.au> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Cc: "Chuck Youse" , hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, "Marc Ramirez" , syssgm@detir.qld.gov.au Subject: Re: symlink question References: <2743.929428404@zippy.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: <2743.929428404@zippy.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at "Mon, 14 Jun 1999 23:33:24 -0700" Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:56:32 +1000 From: Stephen McKay Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Monday, 14th June 1999, "Jordan K. Hubbard" wrote: >> symlinks have caused me grief (Pyramid OSx) and never joy. I hope it fails >> yet again to appear in FreeBSD. Just think of the new security holes for a >> start. > >Name one, please. You can currently point a symlink anyplace you >like; whether the user has permission to *read* or execute the target >of the link, however, is where the genuine system administration takes >over. How the actual value is derived shouldn't make that much >difference. :) Yes, symlinks caused (still cause?) havoc when introduced! And with variant symlinks, you lose the ability to statically verify where things go. A safe symlink (right now) becomes a dangerous one not when the file system is changed, but when some transient variable changes. I don't like that at all. I don't want to have to think through all the consequences. You might consider this sort of shifting of the goal posts (the subtle change to the behaviour of absolutely every program) as a minor inconvenience, and acceptable in order to gain the benefits of variant links. I don't think that way, partially because I don't see them as a real benefit, with more "wow" effect than real utility. Everyone points out the /${ARCH}/bin use, but that can be done in other ways (eg just set PATH) that don't cost much (admin time or cpu time). Stephen. PS On second thoughts, I think Mackin was pointing and exclaiming at a Tektronix workstation. Did they have variant links? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message