How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps [LWN.net]

How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 11, 2009 21:47 UTC (Wed) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630)
In reply to: How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps by aleXXX
Parent article: How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

aleXXX wrote: Being a KDE developer myself, I can assure you that this is simply not true.

I'm willing to give KDE some grudging benefit of the doubt, but some of the top GNOME people (eg, Miguel de Icaza) are anti-UNIX.

And although .desktop files are a "standard", they are a terrible idea. They are a clear security danger.

I have e-mailed the security contacts at both kde.org and gnome.org. I fully expect them to ignore the issue, at which point I will have to write an article retracting my original opinion (from 2001) that Linux is more resistant to e-mail trojans than Windows. What a sad state of affairs.

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How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 12, 2009 7:58 UTC (Thu) by bkor (guest, #27950) [Link]

some of the top GNOME people (eg, Miguel de Icaza) are anti-UNIX

Ignoring your statement about Miguel, could you give another example? I'm involved in GNOME and I think your statement is not true.

Further, Miguel isn't involved with GNOME anymore (only relation is that he started it, etc). From what he said himself, he only attends e.g. GUADEC as an interested user (plus it is fun).

I have e-mailed the security contacts at both kde.org and gnome.org

We don't have a security contact (unless it changed over the last few months).

How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 12, 2009 14:20 UTC (Thu) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

bkor wrote: We don't have a security contact (unless it changed over the last few months).

Well, I sent an e-mail to security@gnome.org, and the mail did not bounce. So either that address exists or your mail server is blackholing mail.

Ignoring your statement about Miguel, could you give another example?

I cannot give names, because I don't know any. But I'll give an example of anti-UNIX behaviour: I've asked for various GNOME tools such as evolution to support an external editor; shelling out to an external editor is time-honoured UNIX behaviour. This request has been met with reactions of various degrees of hostility, from "go away, we're too busy" to downright derision.

I don't mean to go on an anti-GNOME rant. But you did ask! (For the record, I don't use KDE either.)

How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 12, 2009 18:26 UTC (Thu) by bkor (guest, #27950) [Link]

Well, I sent an e-mail to security@gnome.org, and the mail did not bounce. So either that address exists or your mail server is blackholing mail.

Or that is the wrong address. Just mailing some random thing is not a promise that it is the right method.

But I'll give an example of anti-UNIX behaviour

Ah, so you're feature request wasn't implemented. Oh well, I wouldn't call it anti.

I do want to know in which bugreport you interpreted someones remark as derision. Feature requests can be rejected, but people have to be respectful. Btw, Evolution has a plugin to use an external editor.

How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 13, 2009 2:21 UTC (Fri) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]

Well, I sent an e-mail to security@gnome.org, and the mail did not bounce. So either that address exists or your mail server is blackholing mail.
Or that is the wrong address. Just mailing some random thing is not a promise that it is the right method.

No, one of two things he or she said is true regardless of your postulation. Your comment may be pretty relevant to the right way of going about things, of course.

However, gnome does all kinds of things totally wrong in a manner that shows a failure to understand UNIX.

Gnome libraries don't even understand what standard error is for. They think it's standard debug or something. A typical gnome program has so much library spew that you couldn't ever possibly notice a real problem that the application you're using is trying to tell you about.