[desktop-discuss] Re: [content-discuss] Re: [appliances-discuss] Re: Article idea "Getting Small"?

[Bart Smaalders]

Bill Rushmore wrote:
> On Tue, 16 May 2006, Bart Smaalders wrote:
> 
>>
>> It has staroffice, java, etc, compilers (gcc), everything
>> that might be needed.
>>
>> The fact that this box has a 40G laptop drive means I have
>> lots of space left over.... and this is a _tiny_ drive.
>>
>> Why minimize?
>>
>> -= Bart
> 
> I can think of a few reasons to minimize, and it is not just space.  All 
> of that extra software can be a liability, in the sense of security.  
> For a standard developer desktop it might not matter (I actually agree 
> with you there) but for secure servers or kiosks it is a big deal to 
> minimize. Why have all software that someone potetially take advantage 
> of?  The more software you have on the system the more likely one of 
> those things has a vulnerabilty.
> 
> Bill
> rushmores.net
> _______________________________________________
> desktop-discuss mailing list
> desktop-discuss at opensolaris.org

The only software worth minimizing is setuid binaries or
running services; anything else is just security paranoia.
Those who insist on removing perl, java, etc, because those
are "hacker tools" just make life miserable for everyone.

- Bart


-- 
Bart Smaalders			Solaris Kernel Performance
barts at cyber.eng.sun.com		http://blogs.sun.com/barts