Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 03:35:44 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: tail Message-ID: <15091.47968.87497.359437@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <NCBBLIEPOCNJOAEKBEAKMELMOLAA.davids@webmaster.com> References: <KPECIILENDDLPCNIMLOFEEOKCCAA.juha@saarinen.org> <NCBBLIEPOCNJOAEKBEAKMELMOLAA.davids@webmaster.com>
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David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com> types: > > > :: On Unix, it's generally more important to make sure the user can shoot > > :: anything they want than it is to keep the user from shooting > > :: themselves in the foot. > > > > In that case, tail should cause a kernel panic if you try to run it on a > > directory. If you really want to wallow in pendantry, please remember that > > "shooting yourself in the foot" isn't the right metaphor in this context. > > > > -- Juha > > In fact, this argument can justify any harmful behavior that can be easily > averted by system sanity checks, provided that the harm is known. How about > if on an unknown command, the shell does an 'rm -rf ~'? Why stop the user > from shooting themselves in the foot? Because you're missing the *first* half of the argument - it's more important to make sure the user can shoot anything they want". Making the consequences worse than they need to be doesn't do anything to further the users cause. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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