Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 19:18:38 -0400 From: Paul Chvostek <paul@it.ca> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: really nice FreeBSD security feature.... Message-ID: <20010909191838.B25549@gahch.it.ca> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSI.4.33.0109091059230.18967-100000@mail.neca.com>; from brandon@thebiz.net on Sun, Sep 09, 2001 at 11:04:06AM -0400 References: <20010909015540.A49564@xor.obsecurity.org> <Pine.BSI.4.33.0109091059230.18967-100000@mail.neca.com>
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This is idiotic, at least in a modern context. Why not just `chmod u+s /bin/sh` ? Stallman has had some great ideas and has been a great catalyst of and propoment for the free software movement. But I strongly doubt that even Stallman himself would still recommend this sort of anti-security. If I trusted the idiots to keep the systems running, I wouldn't be a responsible "ruler". The masses have a right to continued use of resources, and shouldn't be victim to the few jackasses who falsely assume they know what they're doing. I'll stick to FreeBSD's method, thanks. Along with anything else that will cement the security (and therefore reliability) of my systems. On Sun, Sep 09, 2001 at 11:04:06AM -0400, Brandon Poyner wrote: > > On Sun, 9 Sep 2001, Kris Kennaway wrote: > > >> There's a big screed by RMS somewhere about how root wants to be free > >> and how he hax0red su back in his salad days to allow anyone to su to > >> root..I guess that's why Linnex does it. > > I can't find any trace of it on gnu.org's web site, but searching for > "stallman su wheel" on google turns up plenty of hits. > > > Why GNU su does not support the wheel group (by Richard Stallman) > > > > Sometimes a few of the users try to hold total power over all the > > rest. For example, in 1984, a few users at the MIT AI lab decided to > > seize power by changing the operator password on the Twenex system > > and keeping it secret from everyone else. (I was able to thwart this > > coup and give power back to the users by patching the kernel, but I > > wouldn't know how to do that in Unix.) > > > > However, occasionally the rulers do tell someone. Under the usual su > > mechanism, once someone learns the root password who sympathizes > > with the ordinary users, he can tell the rest. The wheel group feature > > would make this impossible, and thus cement the power of the rulers. > > > > I'm on the side of the masses, not that of the rulers. If you are > > used to supporting the bosses and sysadmins in whatever they do, you > > might find this idea strange at first. > > -- > Brandon Lee Poyner, Unix Systems Engineer brandon@thebiz.net > BiznessOnline.com, Inc. http://www.BiznessOnline.com/ > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- Paul Chvostek <paul@it.ca> Operations / Development / Abuse / Whatever vox: +1 416 598-0000 IT Canada http://www.it.ca/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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