Re: Design principles and ethics

[Marcus Brinkmann]

At Sun, 30 Apr 2006 22:03:41 +0200,
Pierre THIERRY <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> Scribit Tom Bachmann dies 30/04/2006 hora 21:21:
> > > /sbin/passwd requires the authority to write the password database,
> > > which the user does not have.
> > Wrong. In my proposal she has the authority because there is no real
> > ``password database''. There is just a file (say ~/.passwd) that
> > contains the hash of the users password.
> 
> So there is no /sbin/passwd, and it was not considered in the question,
> which about the program accessing a central password database (which I
> agree we should avoid if we can, but that is not the point).

A program that can access a central password database in write-mode is
_not_ confined.  It can be run as a system service that is accessed
through a capability, just like any other system service, if desired.

Thanks,
Marcus