🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <404@vaxb.calgary.UUCP> radford@calgary.UUCP (Radford Neal) writes:
>In article <4794@ukma.uky.csnet>, david@ukma.uky.csnet (David Herron, NPR Lover) writes:
>
>> hmmmm... I guess the patent office didn't know about JACCT on TOPS-10.
>> 
>
>As far as I can see, the only innovation in UNIX SUID stuff is that the
>priviledges inherited can be those of any user, not just some "super user",
>as determined by file ownership. Personally, I don't this this ought to be 
>enough to justify a patent.

I think the innovation that *anyone* can make a program with special
permissions is an innovation. The methods all the older operating systems
used was always something like giving extra permissions to files living
in a certain directory, or files specified in a certain list, etc.

What this conceptually does is move those programs to a different ring
of security: somewhere in between the kernel and the user. This is totally
different from suid. Also, the features provided by older operating systems
usually gave you a way of completely turning off the protection scheme.
Suid is much cleaner (and safer) in that respect.


-- 
	Jack Jansen, jack@mcvax.UUCP
	The shell is my oyster.