Re: PID sequences

Miguel de Icaza (miguel@nuclecu.unam.mx)
Thu, 26 Feb 1998 11:08:54 -0600


> } OpenBSD uses random pid numbers now. If OpenBSD was able to fix their
> } userland, so can we.
>
> Sort of... keep in mind that OpenBSD ships with its own userland utilities,
> which are all neatly kept in one source tree. There's no "one true
> distribution" of Linux.

Linus has always advocated doing the right thing even when it breaks
applications (piles of examples out there). We can not keep carrying
cruft in the kernel forever.

In this specific case, the random PIDs will help make it harder to
exploit a bunch of attacks on predictable filenames (all of our
userland should be using mkstemp instead of mktemp eventually, just
like OpenBSD).

cheers,
Miguel.

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu