Subject: Re: integrating PAM
To: NetBSD-current Discussion List <current-users@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Greg A. Woods <woods@weird.com>
List: current-users
Date: 01/27/2003 18:24:52
[ On Monday, January 27, 2003 at 16:07:44 (-0500), Dan Melomedman wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: integrating PAM
>
> David Maxwell wrote:
> > (2) I don't necessarily see advantages in making it easy for
> > nieve/incompetent programmers to implement security sensitive portions
> > of a system, like Authentication. Having a high barrier to entry might
> > be an advantage.
> 
> So you would rather make it harder for everyone to use just because you
> feel systems will be more secure when the learning curve is steep?

Not only that but we're talking about the most security sensitive
user-level software in the whole OS!  Secure programming is HARD.
Secure programming in C is VERY HARD.  Having a difficult API for such
software makes it almost a certainty that even experts will eventually
make mistakes which affect the security of the system.

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;            <g.a.woods@ieee.org>;           <woods@robohack.ca>
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