Re: 3dfx - a security hazard?

Tigran Aivazian (tigran@ocston.org)
Fri, 12 Mar 1999 00:31:09 -0800 (PST)

On Fri, 12 Mar 1999, David Luyer wrote:
>
> Because if you want anyone to be able to play games, you give them 3dfx
> access - ideally you'd want a group 3dfx[1]. If there's a way to crash the
> system with 3dfx, then you're not providing 3dfx properly, and you're just
> inviting people to introduce a security hazard.
>
> The same is definitely not true of /dev/mem - access to that is definitely
> restricted, and everybody knows that [or should].

Sorry, still not convinced. :)

Saying to a user who has just written his new flight simulator which
requires access to /dev/mem "oh no - access to this device is definitely
restricted!" is exactly the same as saying to another user whose new game
needs access to /dev/3dfx "oh no - this device is a security hole, can't
give you access to that!".

No difference, really.

Regards,
Tigran.

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