Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 08:35:07 +0200 From: Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@critter.freebsd.dk> To: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> Cc: Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>, freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Static vs. dynamic linking (was Re: Using MD5 insted of DES ...) Message-ID: <2234.893226907@critter.freebsd.dk> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 22 Apr 1998 00:16:38 MDT." <199804220616.AAA02036@mt.sri.com>
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In message <199804220616.AAA02036@mt.sri.com>, Nate Williams writes: >Peter Wemm writes: >> FWIW, I'm a little amazed at the paranoia about dynamic linking. I have >> *never* *ever* "lost" or damaged ld.so except through stupidity (made a >> mistake with a source change and caused an undefined symbol). I have never >> lost or damaged libc.so except through stupidity (again, generally through >> normal development accidents with undefined symbols). > >I have thwacked the snot out of my system by replacing libc.so to the >point that nothing except the static stuff in /bin|sbin worked. It >doesn't happen too often, but when it does the only recourse was to use >the static stuff to recover, which I was able to do. > >With dynamic programs, instead of having a single point of failure, you >have *many*. ld.so, libc.so, potentially /var/run/ld.hints, etc... And of course, you DO keep a boot.flp/fixit.flp combination close at hand, right ? >There are too many variables plus the performance advantages of having a >static /bin/sh to even argue about the *minute* advantage of having a >completely dynamic system, vs. the hybrid we have now. I disagree, I think just the crypt problem is sufficient argument to go dynamic. -- Poul-Henning Kamp FreeBSD coreteam member phk@FreeBSD.ORG "Real hackers run -current on their laptop." "Drink MONO-tonic, it goes down but it will NEVER come back up!" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe security" in the body of the message
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