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Re: of bash and ...sbin/



Jacob Kuntz <jake@megabite.net> writes:

> > traceroute is "deeper" than ping.
> 
> and that changes something? one cannot assume that because someone is not
> logged in as root, they are a casual user.

Why not? Non-casual users can start these programs from sbin
nonetheless (see FHS rationale for not making sbin off-limits to
users), so why not make the safe assumption that the user is a casual
one.

Programs that have expert modes (dselect, fdisk, lynx, etc.) always
start with it turned off. I think this is a good strategy.

> saying that traceroute is deeper than ping is like saying that
> ps is deeper than ls.

It is, just on a different measure. This does not disprove my
statement. FWIW, I feel the need for ps much more often than for
traceroute.

> and since when do we try to hide problems, in the
> network or otherwise?

Yes, in a way functionality is hidden: because it is not normally
needed. Do you contest the need for novice vs. expert modes in general?

> that will only encourage people to run things as root. this is *not* a good
> idea.

mtr is suid-root, so this is a moot point.

-- 
Robbe


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