Re: POSIX

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

On Thu, 2005-10-27 at 11:56 +0200, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
>    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.

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.


shap