Well, I've been reading this discussion and would like to state my (very
humble) opinion:
I think that the suggested patch should exist. I'm not sure about having it
in the mainstream kernel. I'm not kernel-knowledgeable enough to know if
there are already any options that deliberatedly break compatibility with other UN*X, but it doesn't sound like the right thing.
Of course, anyone should feel free to apply whatever patches he/she wants. But
as Linux becomes more and more popular, the .config options grow and grow,
maybe making the compiling process a little confusing. I think the kernel
documentation might include some weird patches, with BIG "do it at your risk"
warnings. I believe this is particularly important when addressing an issue as
sensitive as security. Compatibility/security tradeoff? I wouldn't use the
patch, but it wouldn't hurt to know that it exists and where to find it just in case.
But I wouldn't like going through lots of options for perhaps two users among
millions:
Parallel port Space Shuttle support (CONFIG_PARALLEL_SHUTTLE) [N/y/m/?]
Just my $0.00002, Diego.
-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diego M. Basch dmb@hsnce.gov.ar PGP Key: http://hi.fi.uba.ar/~diego/pgpkey