Using a config file would be fine. However, to say that there is as much chance of getting a config file wrong completly misses the point.
You only have to get the config file right once and it would stay that way through any upgrade. If I have to change the source file each and every time an upgrade or patch comes out, then I can get it wrong each and every time.
Also, it completly ignores the problem of timelyness. If I do not require a recompile, I can have RH uptodate auto download any security patches. If I must recompile everytime, then that required me to be available to do it. If I'm on vacation for two, my server will be vulnerable for those two weeks.
Mark Crispin wrote:
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003, William O'Shea wrote:
I want to change the default folder locations to $home/imap/. I have read the CONFIG file and it seems to indicate that I will need to change a file in the source and recompile and that I will need to do this for every sercurity update or patch that comes out.
That is correct.
Is there no way to change this location using an environment variable instead of editing the source each time?
Servers don't get started with any environment variables, so that's a non-starter.
You would have to use a configuration file. Unfortunately, configuration files are just as vulnerable to getting things set wrong as source patches (even more so, since every program's configuration file works differently) and also create a window of opportunity for hackers.
-- Mark --
http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum.
