5/11 I know kchang's de-anonymizer is putting a crimp in your style, but
can you people who scp to /etc/motd.public please stop overwriting?
\_ A little thought should help you realize that's impossible.
\_ A little quality thought should help you realize that:
"Overwriting" is being used in the context of "screwing up
other people's changes".
If you turn off brain and assume the literal definition of
overwrite, you might realize you're "overwriting" [literally]
/etc/motd.public every time you save it in an editor.
Finally, scp users can reduce frequency of overwriting
[contextual meaning] by reducing the lag time between the scp
"get" and "put".
\_ Well, they should be diffing and merging as the final step
\_ No, they should be diffing and merging as the final step
before putting. This leaves a pretty tiny window for potential
overwrites. But can someone tell me how kchang is logging
file access? What OS features help with this? I'm curious to
know for other possible applications.
\_ I signed a pact with Satan
\_ Hm, how about this feature. If you put in "-anon" at the end of
your post, then my Ashcroft script will not reveal your id? -kchang
\_ Note that "tiny window for potential overwrite" is a
longwinded way of saying "that's impossible".
\_ it shouldn't be hard to modify motdedit to do this.
\_ Play nice, or we'll take away your cookies. Or, perhaps, make it
so that you can't scp the motd. - almighty root
\_ hmm, maybe make it so that the motd is only editable through
motdedit and make that a suid file w/ sudo'er perms for everyone.
everyone should then be anon, and no more scp. yes, I'm replying
to myself. =)
\_ I concur. Let's enforce some type of lock/unlock mechanism.
\_ Make the trains run on time while you're at it.
\_ locking and semaphores - the first step towards fascism.
\_ You missed the "enforce" part didn't you?
\_ So tell me, if you've done any work with databases
or file systems, how useful is a lock that is not
enforced?
\_ Hey, I didn't realize the motd was that
important to you.
\_ fuck motdedit. In the ear. It's not a technical problem.
\_ Technically, yes it is a technical problem. Access is
provided throuh a mechanism that causes corruption. Any
time such a mechanism exists and is exploitable, it puts
the infrastructure at risk. Asking users nicely not to do
it is not a solution Either you live with the corruption
or you fix it. As a CS grad, you should know this.
\_ Uhm, we're talking about motd...wtf are you talking
about? This isn't a general "all locks and
synchronization are bad" thread, this is a "motdedit
is a shitty technical solution which doesn't even
really address all the problems" thread. As a high
school grad this should be obvious to you.
\_ First of all, tell us why motdedit is broken, and
maybe we can come up with something better.
\_ Because of patronizing motdedit users. Anything
without patronizing evangelists that works would
be better.
\_ As important as MOTD is for a bunch of users here,
most of whom are CS grads, I'd wager any technical
problem could be ironed out quickly. Anyways,
whatever, this is your guys' problem. I don't use
MOTD and everytime I read it, I feel less inclined to
put as much time into maintaining this system as I
do. I was offering solutions to a real problem of
corruption. But hey, if you people like broken, then
broken you get.
\_ Broken >> supercilious motdedit nazi assholes
Go or stay, use it or don't use it, it's a free
country, and nobody is particularly pining for
you either way. Go, and be happy, my son.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
\_ No offsense, but go fuck yourself. As root, VP,
\_ No offsense, but go eat a carrot. As root, VP,
and now president of the CSUA my policies on
sorrying non-student accounts is much more
draconian than that of my predecessors. You
may have been a student once, but our ultimate
mission is to provide service to current
students - and when people make this a hostile
environment, I won't blink to kick them off our
server. Although I value the insight and
participation of alumni in the CSUA, I'd advise
you not to fuck it up for everyone. If you
disagree with an idea, then voice your reasons
- not some immature tirade and rant. This is
not your personal soap box, this is a server
for use by university students.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
\_ I suggest we first solve the problem of people
posting lines longer than 80 columns or people
with their tabstop not set at 8.
\_ I suggest pliers or a heavy bludgeon. There's
nothing like broken bones to keep columns
down to a reasonable size.
\_ Hm, how about this feature. If you put in "-anon" or some type of
identity at the end of your thread, then my Almighty Ashcroft
script will not reveal your id? -kchang
\_ How about we just squish your ass right now? -anon
\_ I wouldn't do that. John Ashcroft is watching you.
\_ But...but...I put "-anon" at the end! Pretty please let me
be anonymous? -anon
\_ Well I haven't implemented it, I'm just soliciting
opinions and should there be enough demand, I'll do it.
\_ Anyone who has worked with group-writable files
has come to the conclusion that locking and
logging is important; I'd like to see motdedit
(or something functionally similar like RCS)
required. -tom
\_ Because the motd is mission critical! Seriously,
if this were source code, I'd agree. An anonymous
posting board where anyone can add or delete? Feh.
\_ It blows me away how worked up people get
about a lame ass world writeable file.
\_ kchang, I like to troll. the motd is too boring. can you include
an 'exclude' list of names? ;) we need to revive the motd of
better topics!!!
\_ Perhaps the de-anonimizer is a good thing. Its like that old
Donald Duck count to 10 before you explode cartoon. You have
to think about whether or not your really want to write that
comment before you do. It makes the discussion more civilized. |
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