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GNU Guix launchesGNU Guix launchesPosted Nov 27, 2012 23:54 UTC (Tue) by rgmoore (subscriber, #75)In reply to: GNU Guix launches by lambda Parent article: GNU Guix launches
If you don't allow people to install their own packages, they will just download, compile, and install them into their own directory (or run software written in scripting languages that don't require compilation), and now they have an outdated copy sitting in their home directory that's hard to update, and it's hard to find out that they're even doing this without looking. Assuming you have users who are capable of compiling from source or who have scripting languages installed on their machine. And that kind of user is probably capable enough that they ought to be given some kind of control over the software on their system, if for no other reason than that you can't stop them anyway. But those users are not the only kind that sysadmins need to be worried about. Put bluntly, some users really shouldn't be allowed to put software on their own machines. Not every user is capable and trustworthy enough to be given full control over their machine. Some systems contain sensitive information that must be protected from disclosure for legal or contractual reasons, and those machines really should be running only authorized, vetted software. Other machines may be provided in specific places for narrowly tailored purposes, like information kiosks, and should be running only software intended for that purpose. Real world admins need to be able to deal with those kinds of users and situations, and there should be tools that allow them to lock down machines to prevent unauthorized software from being run on them.
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