RE: PUBLIC CHALLENGE: (was RE: devfs again, (was RE: USB device a

Stephen Frost (sfrost@ns.snowman.net)
Fri, 8 Oct 1999 19:35:48 -0400 (EDT)


On Thu, 7 Oct 1999, Shawn Leas wrote:

> From: Horst von Brand [mailto:vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl]
> Subject: Re: PUBLIC CHALLENGE: (was RE: devfs again, (was RE: USB device
> alloc ation) )
>
> >BTW,
> >the entries there allow you to mount _iff_ you have permissions on the
> >devices themselves. The permission bits are the systems' last (only?) line
> >of defense against miscreants; permissions of devices are extremely
> >critical, much more so than even the most critical normal files. Fooling
> >around with this if there is no *extremely* good reason is out. Needless to
> >say, I've seen only rather weak reasons for some scheme like devfs.
>
> So why not simply let the driver decide upon it's nodes' permissions?

Because I want user joe to own /dev/fd0?

> >> The use of a config file to determine permissions/ownership is not
> foreign
> >> to the kernel or filesystems.
>
> >Name one use of configuration files for local permissions/ownership on
> >Unix/Linux.
>
> This is a straw man argument. You take an easy target, knock it down,
> and it really doesn't mean anything, but you claim victory. Shame.

Having to have a configuration file for permissions is not a good
thing. Permissions go with files, they don't go in a config file somewhere.

Stephen

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