thoughts on "how to write a linux virus in 5 easy steps"

[Globe Trotter]

--- On Sun, 4/5/09, Les <hlhowell at pacbell.net> wrote:

> From: Les <hlhowell at pacbell.net>
> Subject: Re: thoughts on "how to write a linux virus in 5 easy steps"
> To: itsme_410 at yahoo.com, "Community assistance, encouragement, and advice for using Fedora." <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009, 5:16 AM
> On Sat, 2009-04-04 at 18:49 -0700, Globe Trotter wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > The following article has created quite some
> discussion, so I wanted to hear what all the real experts
> (here) thought about it.
> > 
> >  http://www.geekzone.co.nz/foobar/6229
> > 
> > The article raises quite a few good points. Whether
> they have merit, and whether remedies are in-built is what I
> am wondering.
> > 
> This is just about the lamest article on any form of
> programming that I
> have ever read. 
> His code is not self replicating (but it might be able to
> load something
> that is), it requires misdirection and operator action, and
> is a Trojan.
> In addition, he wrote it apparently to a standing challenge
> that
> requires writing a file to /etc, which he did not do, nor
> did he show
> even "high level pseudo code" for that operation.
> 
> I won't add further flames here, but come on, this is
> just flame bait,
> and I bit... but don't expect further discussion from
> me.
> 
> Regards,
> Les H
> 

Hi,

Thanks for yours! I certainly did not post the article expecting a flamewar. I just wanted some thoughts on it: I am a cent percent linux (read Fedora) user and I certainly would not want linux to get a bad name. However, my thinking is that if deficiencies creep in or if anything can be done which can only improve linux, we should at least be aware and if possible address it. 

I thank the other respondents who have also commented.

There is however, merit in something that he does not explicitly say: the incorporation of GUI in a big way has swept away many of the warnings/error messages that used to happen when we started applications by running the binary (%firefox, eg) on a terminal. I believe that was useful information, even though the argument can be made that it was too much! Perhaps we can have these notices flying back in the bg of the desktop: I certainly would use it as an option.

Best wishes,
T