Re: Viruses

[Bruce Stephens <bruce cenderis demon co uk>]

lauris@ariman.ee writes:

> As soon, as Linux (BSD etc.) will become mainstream we are
> probably facing a load of viruses (trojans, worms etc.).

I don't think so.  They'll get more common, but Unixoid systems are
always going to be safer than Windows 9x systems, simply because of
file protections and file ownerships.

> These will start to proliferate the same way they do in WinMac world
> for the simple reason that all installing in unix have to be done as
> superuser.

This is unlikely.  When I install a Windows application, I typically
run a self-extracting executable (or what I presume is one).  That
allows a trojan or a virus a really convenient way in (since I'm
voluntarily executing an arbitrary executable).  

On the whole, that doesn't happen in the Unix world.  When I get a
binary, I get a collection of files in a known format (tar, RPM,
etc.), and the installer (which I already have) just has to put the
files in the right places.  So the only thing I'm doing as root is
running a known program---something like rpm.  (rpm can do other
stuff, too, like run ldconfig.  I'm not sure how careful it is about
what a package can ask it to do, so there's a potential loophole, I
suppose.)  I can look inside an rpm/tar/pkg before I install it; I
can't (necessarily) look inside an executable.

So this is *quite* different to what typically happens in the Windows
world.  And long may it stay so.  

The next time someone suggests writing an InstallShield-like program
for your favourite Unixoid system to allow people to package things up
as executables, hit them.