On Sat, 2009-04-04 at 18:49 -0700, Globe Trotter wrote: > The following article has created quite some discussion, so I wanted > to hear what all the real experts (here) thought about it. > > http://www.geekzone.co.nz/foobar/6229 > > The article raises quite a few good points. Whether they have merit, > and whether remedies are in-built is what I am wondering. Firstly, it's not a virus. The author acknowledges this, then carries on as if it is. So minus ten points for talking about an elephant to explain the engineering behind how the Apollo 11 spacecraft works. For it to be a virus is *HAS* to be able to do its trick without any human assistance by the victim. All systems are vulnerable to users deliberately doing stupid things, so it's *NO* revelation that Linux is, too. Likewise for any other software flaws. The author is trying redefine virus just so they can claim its vulnerable to viruses. The author is just attention seeking. Plonkers who do that sort of thing should be made to read "The boy who cried wolf," and "Chicken Little," until they get the point. Part way through I find one thing that I (also) see wrong with the Linux desktops: Those launcher files *should* require an executable bit to be executable. And it'd probably be a good idea if launchers could only be set up in some known locations. SELinux, and its ilk, could go some way towards disallowing the creation of runnable scripts. And issues that I've not liked with Linux, in general: That /home and /tmp are generally mounted, by default, in a manner that allows execution. I'd suggest that only a programmer may need to allow file execution from their homespace. Most users, who don't write scripts, won't need it. -- [tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r 2.6.27.21-78.2.41.fc9.i686 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines