1237e1395655
tech



Hello Pascal - 

CA>> I need to research this 'automount' and others like it. I
CA>> really don't trust myself to not forget to do the 'umount'. 

PS> Should only be a problem for floppy drives, CD-ROMs and the
PS> like lock the door while the disc is mounted, so you can't
PS> accidentally eject them. 

If I remember correctly being _able_ to eject a CD at
inappropriate times without un-mounting it was one of the
complaints about supermount mentioned in a message base I was
reading? 

CA>> OK, so there is some learning involved to memorize what
CA>> 'dev' you need to be addressing and when. 

PS> Yes. 

CA>> I have serious problems with code that is very similar but
CA>> different such as using AWK for awhile then back to C then
CA>> back to AWK. They are just enough alike to make
CA>> remembering the _exact_ syntax difficult (for me).

PS> Amen. I often program in Haskell and Standard ML, which are
PS> two functional programming languages with some common
PS> heritage. The syntax is very much alike in some areas, but
PS> in others the same constructs exist in both languages but
PS> mean very different things. Sometimes I don't pay attention
PS> and very interesting error messages come up. ;) 

When I meet young people who claim to program in multiple
languages sequentially that use very similar syntax I can only
assume that they are very tolerant of their own mistakes and
never expect to write working code the first (or second) time
that they try to. 

--8<--cut 

CA>> I depend on my ZoneAlarm install and popup blocking
CA>> software plus I have altered permissions for ActiveX that
CA>> prevent simple exploits at least. :-\

PS> So you have taken measures to prevent exploits. I doubt the
PS> average user of today does this or even knows that it might
PS> be a wise idea. Much less do they know how to do it. I know
PS> people who consider it a hassle even to change a few IE
PS> settings. For them, it must work out of the box and they
PS> don't want to be bothered with doing anything that requires
PS> changing default settings. 

If webpages weren't so over-done with graphics, animation, and
clientside scripting we could all be a bit safer. :-) 

PS>>> I have cp aliased on my system to "cp -i" so that it asks
PS>>> before overwriting anything. ;) 

CA>> Good example. :-) 

PS> Did the same for mv and rm. 

Also good examples. :-) 

CA>> That should be the default 'mode' for the binary with an
CA>> override if you don't want prompting IMO. ;-)

PS> The alias does work for everybody because I made it a
PS> system-wide default. If I remember correctly, this was
PS> configured by default, but only for normal users and not
PS> root. I changed it to take effect for root also. 

PS> Your point is valid, though. It could be the default with
PS> non-prompt mode available by switch. The only problem then
PS> is scripting, because you don't want to ask questions from
PS> a shell script because often there's nobody there to ask.
PS> It gets ugly when all the tools normally used in scripts
PS> need a special switch to prevent prompting - and forget one
PS> of them in a script and it doesn't work unattended. Still
PS> possible. 

I think this happened to my son-in-law at EDS more than once.
The cleanup and transfer of database files stopped dead in the
middle of the night and put all other jobs behind by many hours
because there was no one to reply "y" to a prompt. LOL 

CA>> If sys admin was my 'career' move I would learn to modify
CA>> the code for the more potentially damaging utilities to,
CA>> as you have, prompt before overwriting/deleting/etc. and
CA>> recomple them then remove the 'standard' versions from the
CA>> machines. 

PS> Or just move the standard version to some area only
PS> accessible by admins. :) 

My level of trust for admins isn't all that much better than
average user/clients but with the right people in admin
positions, yes I guess I could live with that. :-) 

PS>>> On full distributions, there are GUI tools for doing that. 

CA>> I'm just guessing here but the GUI can't 'promote' itself
CA>> to 'root' which means the user would have to login as
CA>> 'root' to use the GUI, Y/N?

PS> It is possible. Some tools pop up a message window where
PS> you need to type in the root password and then the tool
PS> itself can run as root. If this is not possible on some
PS> distribution, the distributor needs to learn better ways.
PS> It's quite easy to program. 

This reminds me of when I was working for the Michigan
government on some computers they used for Internet access. The
supervisor with the admin password was somewhat overweight and
didn't like having to walk to where the computers were so he
told me what the password was to gain admin privilege on the
machines. ;-) 

CA>> You are fortunate to have the MO drive. Most of us don't.
CA>> :-\ 

PS> It was quite an investment at the time, yeah. It was
PS> somewhere around 300 US$, I think - but it was worth it. 

It seems your MO drive and disks are the only working long term
storage media for non-business users I can find at this time. 

CA>> Allowing logins as 'root' to use binaries that overwrite
CA>> files without prompting is the "smoking gun" that
CA>> eventually seems to shoot newbies in the foot given enough
CA>> time they get bored/curious and go for it. :-) 

PS> Most people seem to get away with losing only a few files
PS> or minor damage to the system - and you get very careful
PS> after that.  ;)

Or very paranoid for awhile as I have done. :-) 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

--- * ATP/16bit 2.31 * 
... DOS the Ghost in the Machine! http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/