Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 10:14:30 -0700 (MST) From: Softweyr LLC <softweyr@xmission.com> To: rkw@dataplex.net (Richard Wackerbarth) Cc: security@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sendmail 8.8.4 questions... Message-ID: <199612051714.KAA25294@xmission.xmission.com> In-Reply-To: <l03010903aecbe7b57b06@[208.2.87.4]> from "Richard Wackerbarth" at Dec 4, 96 08:56:40 pm
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Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> observed:
% You aren't providing a release, you are providing patches to a FreeBSD
% release. *Anyone* is allowed to do that, you don't need any blessing or
% permission to do that.
Richard Wackerbarth replied:
> And that defeats the whole purpose of the effort. Only the "FreeBSD
> organization" can OFFICIALLY address solutions to security problems.
> If someone else distributes patches, then, rather than increasing the
> opinion of users, it will actually reflect negatively on the organization
> because it shows that the organization "doesn't care".
>
> It really is too bad that "you" developers have such a limited viewpoint.
> All you want to your plaything. It doesn't matter to you whether or not it
> is useful in the "real world". That attitude is definitely a limiting
> factor.
This is certainly not true of all FreeBSD developers, and not of Nate
either. Nate has his interests, and they don't coincide with yours.
Since you're *not paying him*, he doesn't have any compelling reason to
drop what he is doing and rush to your aid. If this bothers you, that
is your problem, not Nates!
If you, Richard, want to become the champion of security patches for
FreeBSD 2.1.6.1+, talk to Jordan and devise a mechanism for distri-
buting security patches as part of "the organization." In other words,
if it is really important to you, become part of the solution, rather
than remaining part of the problem. Nobody has ever said FreeBSD is a
closed organization, and offers to volunteer are rarely turned down.
Most of the call for continuing security fixes for the -STABLE branch
have come from ISPs using FreeBSD to make money, but I have heard
exactly *none* of them volunteer any resources - manpower, cpu cycles,
disk space, network bandwidth, *nothing* in order to make this happen.
Put up or shut up!
Replies directed to chat, this has long since ceased being a security
issue.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
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