Re: POSIX

[Alfred M\. Szmidt]

   >    I do not believe so. The difference is that with a kernel I
   >    know where the kernel came from and so do a lot of other
   >    users. If the kernel screws the users, they have a decent
   >    chance to figure this out and abandon the system. Also,
   >    kernels are well known to be sources of vulnerability and they
   >    get inspected.
   > 
   > History shows that people are not interested in hacking kernels,
   > they hack on programs.

   Unfortunately, I have direct information that this statement is
   wrong.  It does appear to be true that the everyday hacker is not
   yet targeting kernels, but the professionals definitely *are* doing
   so.

Then I suggest you look at the number of editors people have written
compared to the number of kernels.

   In any case, this is not relevant. Your original assertion was that
   users cannot have any more confidence in their kernels then they
   can in downloaded code. I was explaining why this was not correct.

But it isn't correct.  What you explained was simply that you can
confine a process, and not have it do evil things.  This doesn't
change the level of confidence in the kernel or the program.