From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: cgf@bbc.com (Chris Faylor) To: gnu-win32@cygnus.com Subject: Re: Feedback needed on proposed cygwin feature Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 08:07:00 -0000 Message-id: References: <3120D53DC9D5D011A59A00C0F016383303A323@server1> X-SW-Source: 1997-12/msg00185.html In article < 3120D53DC9D5D011A59A00C0F016383303A323@server1 >, Michael Anthon wrote: >On Thursday, 4 December 1997 12:31, cgf@bbc.com [SMTP:cgf@bbc.com] >wrote: >> In article < 34856623.C5226DBC@twinspot.net >, >> Tomas Fasth wrote: >> >Modifying the exe file "on-the-fly" for environmental settings is not >to >> >recommend. Two of the reasons I can think of is: >> > >> >* Security considerations in a multiuser / multiprocess environment. >> >> What security considerations are there that are not also present with >> any other scheme, whether it is using extended attributes or setting >options >> in the registry? You would have to have the right privileges to >change >> the binary. > >Modification of binary files in a multi-user environment is not a good >thing. The registry is there, you may as well use it. Something I have >not yet seen mentioned is the fact that each user can have a separate >profile in the registry, making it easy for each user to have different >settings. Modifying the binary might get just a little frustrating if >someone else keeps changing it to the way THEY like things (unless you >want to fill your hdd with multiple copies of executables) >Also, for a user to be able to modify a binary, they would need write >access to that binary. I suspect this would cause nightmares for sys >admins, not to mention the possibility of adding back doors directly >into the binaries themselves. I bet a normal user can't modify any of >the shell binaries in a standard Unix setup. No, you're right. A normal user would use environment variables, which are still available. I had envisioned the use of the registry as a way to set defaults for specific programs on a system, not as a way for each user to modify their needs for a specific program. It is a subtle difference. -- http://www.bbc.com/ cgf@bbc.com "Strange how unreal VMS=>UNIX Solutions Boston Business Computing the real can be." - For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to "gnu-win32-request@cygnus.com" with one line of text: "help".