Re: [RFC PATCH 0/2] Loop device psuedo filesystem

2014-05-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield
way for the userns (or
> >> the host!) to create a new loop-control device owned by that userns
> >> and we need to tweak the loop driver to make the created loop devices
> >> be owned by the userns.
> >
> > The patches I posted previously more or less did this using per-ns
> > devtmpfs, aside from the ephimeral part. The feedback was "just do it in
> > loop," so I sent these to facilitate discussing this option with
> > something concrete. I personally still like the per-ns devtmpfs
> > approach, but that's been nacked.

> The ephemeral part might not be needed using devtmpfs if devtmpfs can
> guarantee that the device nodes go away if the device goes away.  I
> don't know whether it can make that guarantee.

> > (a) might be interesting, but I'd expect the same objections to be
> > raised as for (c). And it seems to me that (b) is just a alternate
> > interface for (a).

> True.

> >> (Note: I'm deliberately ignoring the fact that just doing this for
> >> loop seems to be almost entirely useless right now: you still can't
> >> mount the things.)

> > You could also argue that it's useless to be able to mount things if you
> > have no block device on which to mount them. We have to start somewhere.

> True.

> But if we take this particular route, then I can imagine a real mess
> when someone wants to mount a non-loop device, and we get stuck on how
> to expose the device node.  Sigh.

Then we deal with that horse when we have to make him sing.  One way or
the other, we're trying to moving forward.

> --Andy

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [RFC PATCH 0/2] Loop device psuedo filesystem

2014-05-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield
 ignoring the fact that just doing this for
  loop seems to be almost entirely useless right now: you still can't
  mount the things.)

  You could also argue that it's useless to be able to mount things if you
  have no block device on which to mount them. We have to start somewhere.

 True.

 But if we take this particular route, then I can imagine a real mess
 when someone wants to mount a non-loop device, and we get stuck on how
 to expose the device node.  Sigh.

Then we deal with that horse when we have to make him sing.  One way or
the other, we're trying to moving forward.

 --Andy

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 11/11] loop: Allow priveleged operations for root in the namespace which owns a device

2014-05-26 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Tue, 2014-05-27 at 03:36 +0200, Serge E. Hallyn wrote:
> Quoting Michael H. Warfield (m...@wittsend.com):
> > On Mon, 2014-05-26 at 11:16 +0200, Seth Forshee wrote:
> > > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 08:48:25AM +0300, Marian Marinov wrote:
> > > > -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> > > > Hash: SHA1
> > > > 
> > > > One question about this patch.
> > > > 
> > > > Why don't you use the devices cgroup check if the root user in that 
> > > > namespace is allowed to use this device?
> > > > 
> > > > This way you can be sure that the root in that namespace can not access 
> > > > devices to which the host system did not gave
> > > > him access to.
> > 
> > > That might be possible, but I don't want to require something on the
> > > host to whitelist the device for the container. Then loop would need to
> > > automatically add the device to devices.allow, which doesn't seem
> > > desirable to me. But I'm not entirely opposed to the idea if others
> > > think this is a better way to go.
> > 
> > I don't see any safe way to avoid it.  The host has to be in control of
> > what devices can and can not be accessed by the container.

> Disagree.  loop%d is meaningless until it is attached to a file.  So
> whether a container can use loop2 vs loop9 is meaningless.  The point
> of Seth's loopfs as I understood it is that the container simply gets a
> unique (not visible to host or any other containers) set of loop devices
> which it can attach to files which it owns.  So long as the host can't
> see the container's loop devices (i.e. so it unwittently mounts it when
> looking for a particular UUID for /var), it won't get fooled by them.

> So in this case *if* we can do it, a purely namespaced approach - meaning
> that we restrict visibility of a particular loopdev to one container - is
> perfect.  

And in that "*if" is a cloud that says "then a miracle occurs" and that
miracle needs a lot more detail.  How that translates into what is and
is not visible and what can be mimiced in a container becomes important
(to say nothing of notifying its udev).  I think this loopfs thing is
the answer for the loop device case, we just need to clear up those
details and exorcise the devils we find in them.  The loop devices are
unique while they strangely seem to work with minimal leakage already
(all meta data at this time).

Seth remarked that, maybe, he's not paranoid enough.  You know that I'm
a well trained professional paranoid and I accept if people think I'm
overly paranoid (is that even possible?).  Even paranoids have enemies
and just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get
you.  While I admit that total isolation is virtually (excuse the pun)
impossible that doesn't mean I don't strive to maximize the isolation
and analyze the possibilities and consequences of compromise.

As I stated, "I don't see any way to avoid it".  I would love to be
proven wrong.  It would permit my life to be so much more easy.  But how
can we allow this without the host in control of it and directing things
to the containers?  A container may request something and the host can
grant it but the container should not be capable of demanding a device
over and above the control of the host.  How do we define the rules that
say what a container can do and what it cannot do without it involving
knowledge in the host (whitelisting as Seth call's it) of what is and is
not allowed in the container?

We already have the problem that the container devices.allow and
devices.deny are major and minor based, which we know is fundamentally
flawed in a udev environment.  We specify major:minor in the
configuration files as if they are cast in cement (which they are in all
common cases) but they are not in the general case.  Greg K-H hammers on
this frequently.

The loop devices are unique and deserve a unique solution, I'll agree.
But I'm also comfortable that the host should have rules and procedures
to whitelist hard devices and loop devices and manage their transfer
and/or sharing into the containers.

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 11/11] loop: Allow priveleged operations for root in the namespace which owns a device

2014-05-26 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Mon, 2014-05-26 at 11:16 +0200, Seth Forshee wrote:
> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 08:48:25AM +0300, Marian Marinov wrote:
> > -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> > Hash: SHA1
> > 
> > One question about this patch.
> > 
> > Why don't you use the devices cgroup check if the root user in that 
> > namespace is allowed to use this device?
> > 
> > This way you can be sure that the root in that namespace can not access 
> > devices to which the host system did not gave
> > him access to.

> That might be possible, but I don't want to require something on the
> host to whitelist the device for the container. Then loop would need to
> automatically add the device to devices.allow, which doesn't seem
> desirable to me. But I'm not entirely opposed to the idea if others
> think this is a better way to go.

I don't see any safe way to avoid it.  The host has to be in control of
what devices can and can not be accessed by the container.

> Seth

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 11/11] loop: Allow priveleged operations for root in the namespace which owns a device

2014-05-26 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Mon, 2014-05-26 at 11:16 +0200, Seth Forshee wrote:
 On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 08:48:25AM +0300, Marian Marinov wrote:
  -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
  Hash: SHA1
  
  One question about this patch.
  
  Why don't you use the devices cgroup check if the root user in that 
  namespace is allowed to use this device?
  
  This way you can be sure that the root in that namespace can not access 
  devices to which the host system did not gave
  him access to.

 That might be possible, but I don't want to require something on the
 host to whitelist the device for the container. Then loop would need to
 automatically add the device to devices.allow, which doesn't seem
 desirable to me. But I'm not entirely opposed to the idea if others
 think this is a better way to go.

I don't see any safe way to avoid it.  The host has to be in control of
what devices can and can not be accessed by the container.

 Seth

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 11/11] loop: Allow priveleged operations for root in the namespace which owns a device

2014-05-26 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Tue, 2014-05-27 at 03:36 +0200, Serge E. Hallyn wrote:
 Quoting Michael H. Warfield (m...@wittsend.com):
  On Mon, 2014-05-26 at 11:16 +0200, Seth Forshee wrote:
   On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 08:48:25AM +0300, Marian Marinov wrote:
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

One question about this patch.

Why don't you use the devices cgroup check if the root user in that 
namespace is allowed to use this device?

This way you can be sure that the root in that namespace can not access 
devices to which the host system did not gave
him access to.
  
   That might be possible, but I don't want to require something on the
   host to whitelist the device for the container. Then loop would need to
   automatically add the device to devices.allow, which doesn't seem
   desirable to me. But I'm not entirely opposed to the idea if others
   think this is a better way to go.
  
  I don't see any safe way to avoid it.  The host has to be in control of
  what devices can and can not be accessed by the container.

 Disagree.  loop%d is meaningless until it is attached to a file.  So
 whether a container can use loop2 vs loop9 is meaningless.  The point
 of Seth's loopfs as I understood it is that the container simply gets a
 unique (not visible to host or any other containers) set of loop devices
 which it can attach to files which it owns.  So long as the host can't
 see the container's loop devices (i.e. so it unwittently mounts it when
 looking for a particular UUID for /var), it won't get fooled by them.

 So in this case *if* we can do it, a purely namespaced approach - meaning
 that we restrict visibility of a particular loopdev to one container - is
 perfect.  

And in that *if is a cloud that says then a miracle occurs and that
miracle needs a lot more detail.  How that translates into what is and
is not visible and what can be mimiced in a container becomes important
(to say nothing of notifying its udev).  I think this loopfs thing is
the answer for the loop device case, we just need to clear up those
details and exorcise the devils we find in them.  The loop devices are
unique while they strangely seem to work with minimal leakage already
(all meta data at this time).

Seth remarked that, maybe, he's not paranoid enough.  You know that I'm
a well trained professional paranoid and I accept if people think I'm
overly paranoid (is that even possible?).  Even paranoids have enemies
and just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get
you.  While I admit that total isolation is virtually (excuse the pun)
impossible that doesn't mean I don't strive to maximize the isolation
and analyze the possibilities and consequences of compromise.

As I stated, I don't see any way to avoid it.  I would love to be
proven wrong.  It would permit my life to be so much more easy.  But how
can we allow this without the host in control of it and directing things
to the containers?  A container may request something and the host can
grant it but the container should not be capable of demanding a device
over and above the control of the host.  How do we define the rules that
say what a container can do and what it cannot do without it involving
knowledge in the host (whitelisting as Seth call's it) of what is and is
not allowed in the container?

We already have the problem that the container devices.allow and
devices.deny are major and minor based, which we know is fundamentally
flawed in a udev environment.  We specify major:minor in the
configuration files as if they are cast in cement (which they are in all
common cases) but they are not in the general case.  Greg K-H hammers on
this frequently.

The loop devices are unique and deserve a unique solution, I'll agree.
But I'm also comfortable that the host should have rules and procedures
to whitelist hard devices and loop devices and manage their transfer
and/or sharing into the containers.

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-19 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Mon, 2014-05-19 at 17:04 -0700, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
> Seth Forshee  writes:
> 
> > What I set out for was feature parity between loop devices in a secure
> > container and loop devices on the host. Since some operations currently
> > check for system-wide CAP_SYS_ADMIN, the only way I see to accomplish
> > this is to push knowledge of the user namespace farther down into the
> > driver stack so the check can instead be for CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the user
> > namespace associated with the device.
> >
> > That said, I suspect our current use cases can get by without these
> > capabilities. Really though I suspect this is just deferring the
> > discussion rather than settling it, and what we'll end up with is little
> > more than a fancy way for userspace to ask the kernel to run mknod on
> > its behalf.

> A fancy way to ask the kernel to run mknod on its behalf is what
> /dev/pts is.

> When I suggested this I did not mean you should forgo making changes to
> allow partitions and the like.  What I itended is that you should find a
> way to make this safe for users who don't have root capabilities.

I like to think in terms of the "rootless" configurations where "root"
per se is not absolute and everything is framed in terms of
capabilities.

> Which possibly means that mount needs to learn how to keep a more
> privileged user from using your new loop devices.

Not sure I got that one.  As user with "more" privileges may or may not
have access dependent on the congruence of the privileges.  They're not
heiarchial.  If someone has that "priv" then they have access.  If they
do not, they do not.

> To get to the point where this is really and truly usable I expect to be
> technically daunting.

Most technically non-trivial problems generally are.

> Ultimately the technical challenge is how do we create a block device
> that is safe for a user who does not have any capabilities to use, and
> what can we do with that block device to make it useful.

Concur.  It boils down to privilege management and access.  Absolutely
concur.

> Only when the question is can this kernel functionality which is
> otherwise safe confuse a preexisting setuid application do namespace
> or container bits significantly come into play.

Ah...  Admittedly it's not as late as our conversation at LinuxPlumbers
last year in NOLA but...  Maybe late at night but I failed to parse the
above.

> Eric

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-19 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Mon, 2014-05-19 at 17:04 -0700, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
 Seth Forshee seth.fors...@canonical.com writes:
 
  What I set out for was feature parity between loop devices in a secure
  container and loop devices on the host. Since some operations currently
  check for system-wide CAP_SYS_ADMIN, the only way I see to accomplish
  this is to push knowledge of the user namespace farther down into the
  driver stack so the check can instead be for CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the user
  namespace associated with the device.
 
  That said, I suspect our current use cases can get by without these
  capabilities. Really though I suspect this is just deferring the
  discussion rather than settling it, and what we'll end up with is little
  more than a fancy way for userspace to ask the kernel to run mknod on
  its behalf.

 A fancy way to ask the kernel to run mknod on its behalf is what
 /dev/pts is.

 When I suggested this I did not mean you should forgo making changes to
 allow partitions and the like.  What I itended is that you should find a
 way to make this safe for users who don't have root capabilities.

I like to think in terms of the rootless configurations where root
per se is not absolute and everything is framed in terms of
capabilities.

 Which possibly means that mount needs to learn how to keep a more
 privileged user from using your new loop devices.

Not sure I got that one.  As user with more privileges may or may not
have access dependent on the congruence of the privileges.  They're not
heiarchial.  If someone has that priv then they have access.  If they
do not, they do not.

 To get to the point where this is really and truly usable I expect to be
 technically daunting.

Most technically non-trivial problems generally are.

 Ultimately the technical challenge is how do we create a block device
 that is safe for a user who does not have any capabilities to use, and
 what can we do with that block device to make it useful.

Concur.  It boils down to privilege management and access.  Absolutely
concur.

 Only when the question is can this kernel functionality which is
 otherwise safe confuse a preexisting setuid application do namespace
 or container bits significantly come into play.

Ah...  Admittedly it's not as late as our conversation at LinuxPlumbers
last year in NOLA but...  Maybe late at night but I failed to parse the
above.

 Eric

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 21:35 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 01:49:59AM +, Serge Hallyn wrote:
> > > I think having to pick and choose what device nodes you want in a
> > > container is a good thing.  Becides, you would have to do the same thing
> > > in the kernel anyway, what's wrong with userspace making the decision
> > > here, especially as it knows exactly what it wants to do much more so
> > > than the kernel ever can.
> > 
> > For 'real' devices that sounds sensible.  The thing about loop devices
> > is that we simply want to allow a container to say "give me a loop
> > device to use" and have it receive a unique loop device (or 3), without
> > having to pre-assign them.  I think that would be cleaner to do using
> > a pseudofs and loop-control device, rather than having to have a
> > daemon in userspace on the host farming those out in response to
> > some, I don't know, dbus request?

> I agree that loop devices would be nice to have in a container, and that
> the existing loop interface doesn't really lend itself to that.  So
> create a new type of thing that acts like a loop device in a container.
> But don't try to mess with the whole driver core just for a single type
> of device.

Yeah, a lot of dynamic devices (like serial devices) can be handled in
user space with the proviso that we could use some way to tickle udev
and hotplug in the container with events.

But the loop device is the real ugly duckling here.  It's a unique case
of an on-demand device with a shared control device that's not really
hot-plug and not really deterministic enough to be handled purely in
user space.  It presents unique challenges unto itself.

Makes sense to me.

> greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 21:35 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
 On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 01:49:59AM +, Serge Hallyn wrote:
   I think having to pick and choose what device nodes you want in a
   container is a good thing.  Becides, you would have to do the same thing
   in the kernel anyway, what's wrong with userspace making the decision
   here, especially as it knows exactly what it wants to do much more so
   than the kernel ever can.
  
  For 'real' devices that sounds sensible.  The thing about loop devices
  is that we simply want to allow a container to say give me a loop
  device to use and have it receive a unique loop device (or 3), without
  having to pre-assign them.  I think that would be cleaner to do using
  a pseudofs and loop-control device, rather than having to have a
  daemon in userspace on the host farming those out in response to
  some, I don't know, dbus request?

 I agree that loop devices would be nice to have in a container, and that
 the existing loop interface doesn't really lend itself to that.  So
 create a new type of thing that acts like a loop device in a container.
 But don't try to mess with the whole driver core just for a single type
 of device.

Yeah, a lot of dynamic devices (like serial devices) can be handled in
user space with the proviso that we could use some way to tickle udev
and hotplug in the container with events.

But the loop device is the real ugly duckling here.  It's a unique case
of an on-demand device with a shared control device that's not really
hot-plug and not really deterministic enough to be handled purely in
user space.  It presents unique challenges unto itself.

Makes sense to me.

 greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] Mount and other notifiers, was: [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 12:52 -0700, James Bottomley wrote:
> On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 15:42 -0400, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> > > As an aside (probably requiring a new thread) we were wondering about
> > > some type of notifier on the mount call that we could vector into the
> > > host to perform the action.  The main issue for us is mount of procfs,
> > > which really needs to be a bind mount in a container.  All of this led
> > > me to speculate that we could use some type of syscall notifier
> > > mechanism to manage capabilities in the host and even intercept and
> > > complete the syscall action within the host rather than having to keep
> > > evolving more an more complex kernel drivers to do this.
> > 
> > Interesting.  That could be very useful.  That might even help with the
> > loop device case where the mounts have to go through loop devices for
> > things like file system images and builds.  Very interesting...

> Right, it might even make the loop case go away because now we can
> present a dummy device in the container and when the host sees and
> attempted mount on this, it just projects a bind mount into the
> container and says I've *wink* mounted your "device" for you.

Nice.  That idea has prospects.  I like the concept.

> This idea is extremely rough, it came from a conversation I had with
> Pavel (cc'd) just before OpenStack about how we might go about
> eliminating our OpenVZ interception of the mount system call which
> currently does all of this in kernel, so we have no code and no proof
> that it's actually feasible (yet).

K.  I look forward to hearing more.

I switched from OpenVZ years ago to LXC because OpenVZ was falling too
far behind in kernel support and patches for the leading edge kernels.
At the time, I was working on the MD5 signature code for the Quagga
routing suite for BGP and couldn't maintain my hosts with OpenVZ and
maintain my BGP connections (I have a public ASN and peer on both IPv4
and IPv6) with MD5 signatures at the same time.  At the time LXC had
just matured enough to serve my needs.  That's interesting to note that
OpenVZ did this by intercepting the mount call.  Very interesting...

> James

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 12:20 -0700, James Bottomley wrote:
> On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 21:42 -0400, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> > On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 15:15 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> > > > PS - Apparently both parallels and Michael independently
> > > > project devices which are hot-plugged on the host into containers.
> > > > That also seems like something worth talking about (best practices,
> > > > shortcomings, use cases not met by it, any ways tha the kernel can
> > > > help out) at ksummit/linuxcon.
> > 
> > > I was told that containers would never want devices hotplugged into
> > > them.
> > 
> > Interesting.  You were told they (who they?) would never want them?  Who
> > said that?  I would have never thought that given that other
> > implementations can provide that.  I would certainly want them.  Seems
> > strange to explicitly relegate LXC containers to being second class
> > citizens behind OpenVZ, Parallels, BSD Gaols, and Solaris Zones.

> That would probably be me.  Running hotplug inside a container is a
> security problem and, since containers are easily entered by the host,
> it's very easy to listen for the hotplug in the host and inject it into
> the container using nsenter.

In all virtualization...  The host, particularly root on the host,
exists as deus ex machina, the "god outside the machine".  They are at
my mercy.  Even hardware virtualization can not protect you from the
host.  You wanna hear some frightening talks on virtualization, catch
Joanna (miss little blue pill) Rutkowska some time.  I'm particularly
interesting in her takes on the "anti evil-maid attacks" and I sat in on
her talks on the "north bridge" and "south bridge" malware evasion
techniques.  She's a good speaker who makes powerful points that makes
you sweat but is pleasant in face to face conversation.  I've played
with her Qubes distribution a couple of times and the way it works with
the TPM to insure a secure boot is interesting.  But that's a completely
different topic on trusted computing.

OTOH, there are plenty of other things to worry about in all forms of
virtualization.  At Internet Security Systems, where I was a founder,
fellow, and "X-Force Senior Wizard", we were looking at the ability to
leak information through the USB subsystem.  No isolation is perfect,
especially when you have USB enabled.

But that's my turf.

> I don't think the intention is to label anyone's implementation as
> preferred.  What this shows, I think, is that we all have different
> practises when it comes to setting up containers.  Some are necessary
> because our containers are different.  Some could do with serious
> examination to see if there's really a best way to do the action which
> we would then all use.

And I hope to contribute to the discussion of said actions.

> > I might believe you were never told they would need them, but that's a
> > totally different sense.  Are we going to tell RedHat and the Docker
> > people that LXC is an inferior technology that is complex and unreliable
> > (to quote another poster) compared to these others?  They're saying this
> > will be enterprise technology.  If I go to Amazon AWS or other VPS
> > services and compare, are we not going to stand on a level playing
> > field?  Admittedly, I don't expect Amazon AWS to provide me with serial
> > consoles, but I do expect to be able to mount file system images within
> > my VPS.

> Well, that's another nasty, isn't it.  We all have different ways of
> coping with mount in the container.  I think at plumbers we need to sit
> down with some of this plumbing and work out which pipes carry the same
> fluids and whether we could unify them.

Concur

> As an aside (probably requiring a new thread) we were wondering about
> some type of notifier on the mount call that we could vector into the
> host to perform the action.  The main issue for us is mount of procfs,
> which really needs to be a bind mount in a container.  All of this led
> me to speculate that we could use some type of syscall notifier
> mechanism to manage capabilities in the host and even intercept and
> complete the syscall action within the host rather than having to keep
> evolving more an more complex kernel drivers to do this.

Interesting.  That could be very useful.  That might even help with the
loop device case where the mounts have to go through loop devices for
things like file system images and builds.  Very interesting...

> James

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 09:06 -0500, Seth Forshee wrote:
> On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 09:35:32PM -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> > On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 01:49:59AM +, Serge Hallyn wrote:
> > > > I think having to pick and choose what device nodes you want in a
> > > > container is a good thing.  Becides, you would have to do the same thing
> > > > in the kernel anyway, what's wrong with userspace making the decision
> > > > here, especially as it knows exactly what it wants to do much more so
> > > > than the kernel ever can.
> > > 
> > > For 'real' devices that sounds sensible.  The thing about loop devices
> > > is that we simply want to allow a container to say "give me a loop
> > > device to use" and have it receive a unique loop device (or 3), without
> > > having to pre-assign them.  I think that would be cleaner to do using
> > > a pseudofs and loop-control device, rather than having to have a
> > > daemon in userspace on the host farming those out in response to
> > > some, I don't know, dbus request?
> > 
> > I agree that loop devices would be nice to have in a container, and that
> > the existing loop interface doesn't really lend itself to that.  So
> > create a new type of thing that acts like a loop device in a container.
> > But don't try to mess with the whole driver core just for a single type
> > of device.

> No matter what I don't think we get out of this without driver core
> changes, whether this was done in loop or by creating something new.
> Not unless the whole thing is punted to userspace, anyway.

> The first problem is that many block device ioctls check for
> CAP_SYS_ADMIN. Most of these might not ever be used on loop devices, I'm
> not really sure. But loop does at minimum support partitions, and to get
> that functionality in an unprivileged container at least the block layer
> needs to know the namespace which has privileges for that device.

Woa!  Time out...  Sorry, this will be an off topic aside.

Loop devices support partitions?  I'd love to know how that works.  I've
tried several times in the past to do that but it's failed every time.
I haven't been able to find any how-to in the past.  This article was
just a couple of years ago (after the last time I tried this):

http://madduck.net/blog/2006.10.20:loop-mounting-partitions-from-a-disk-image/

This guy didn't use partitions directly but used the offset to the
mount, which is what I had to use.  Everything I found always referred
to using mount offsets in order to mount partitions within a loop
device.

Regards,
Mike

> The second is that all block devices automatically appear in devtmpfs.
> The scenario I'm concerned about is that the host could unknowingly use
> a loop device exposed to a container, then the container could see data
> from the host. So we either need a flag to tell the driver core not to
> create a node in devtmpfs, or we need a privileged manager in userspace
> to remove them (which kind of defeats the purpose). And it gets more
> complicated when partition block devs are mixed in, because they can be
> created without involvement from the driver - they would need to inherit
> the "no devtmpfs node" property from their parent, and if the driver
> uses a psuedo fs to create device nodes for userspace then it needs to
> be informed about the partitions too so it can create those nodes.
> 
> So maybe we could get by without the privileged ioctls, as long as it
> was understood that unprivileged containers can't do partitioning. But I
> do think the devtmpfs problem would need to be addressed.
> 
> Thanks,
> Seth
> ___
> lxc-devel mailing list
> lxc-de...@lists.linuxcontainers.org
> http://lists.linuxcontainers.org/listinfo/lxc-devel
> 

-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 09:06 -0500, Seth Forshee wrote:
 On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 09:35:32PM -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
  On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 01:49:59AM +, Serge Hallyn wrote:
I think having to pick and choose what device nodes you want in a
container is a good thing.  Becides, you would have to do the same thing
in the kernel anyway, what's wrong with userspace making the decision
here, especially as it knows exactly what it wants to do much more so
than the kernel ever can.
   
   For 'real' devices that sounds sensible.  The thing about loop devices
   is that we simply want to allow a container to say give me a loop
   device to use and have it receive a unique loop device (or 3), without
   having to pre-assign them.  I think that would be cleaner to do using
   a pseudofs and loop-control device, rather than having to have a
   daemon in userspace on the host farming those out in response to
   some, I don't know, dbus request?
  
  I agree that loop devices would be nice to have in a container, and that
  the existing loop interface doesn't really lend itself to that.  So
  create a new type of thing that acts like a loop device in a container.
  But don't try to mess with the whole driver core just for a single type
  of device.

 No matter what I don't think we get out of this without driver core
 changes, whether this was done in loop or by creating something new.
 Not unless the whole thing is punted to userspace, anyway.

 The first problem is that many block device ioctls check for
 CAP_SYS_ADMIN. Most of these might not ever be used on loop devices, I'm
 not really sure. But loop does at minimum support partitions, and to get
 that functionality in an unprivileged container at least the block layer
 needs to know the namespace which has privileges for that device.

Woa!  Time out...  Sorry, this will be an off topic aside.

Loop devices support partitions?  I'd love to know how that works.  I've
tried several times in the past to do that but it's failed every time.
I haven't been able to find any how-to in the past.  This article was
just a couple of years ago (after the last time I tried this):

http://madduck.net/blog/2006.10.20:loop-mounting-partitions-from-a-disk-image/

This guy didn't use partitions directly but used the offset to the
mount, which is what I had to use.  Everything I found always referred
to using mount offsets in order to mount partitions within a loop
device.

Regards,
Mike

 The second is that all block devices automatically appear in devtmpfs.
 The scenario I'm concerned about is that the host could unknowingly use
 a loop device exposed to a container, then the container could see data
 from the host. So we either need a flag to tell the driver core not to
 create a node in devtmpfs, or we need a privileged manager in userspace
 to remove them (which kind of defeats the purpose). And it gets more
 complicated when partition block devs are mixed in, because they can be
 created without involvement from the driver - they would need to inherit
 the no devtmpfs node property from their parent, and if the driver
 uses a psuedo fs to create device nodes for userspace then it needs to
 be informed about the partitions too so it can create those nodes.
 
 So maybe we could get by without the privileged ioctls, as long as it
 was understood that unprivileged containers can't do partitioning. But I
 do think the devtmpfs problem would need to be addressed.
 
 Thanks,
 Seth
 ___
 lxc-devel mailing list
 lxc-de...@lists.linuxcontainers.org
 http://lists.linuxcontainers.org/listinfo/lxc-devel
 

-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 12:20 -0700, James Bottomley wrote:
 On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 21:42 -0400, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
  On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 15:15 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
PS - Apparently both parallels and Michael independently
project devices which are hot-plugged on the host into containers.
That also seems like something worth talking about (best practices,
shortcomings, use cases not met by it, any ways tha the kernel can
help out) at ksummit/linuxcon.
  
   I was told that containers would never want devices hotplugged into
   them.
  
  Interesting.  You were told they (who they?) would never want them?  Who
  said that?  I would have never thought that given that other
  implementations can provide that.  I would certainly want them.  Seems
  strange to explicitly relegate LXC containers to being second class
  citizens behind OpenVZ, Parallels, BSD Gaols, and Solaris Zones.

 That would probably be me.  Running hotplug inside a container is a
 security problem and, since containers are easily entered by the host,
 it's very easy to listen for the hotplug in the host and inject it into
 the container using nsenter.

In all virtualization...  The host, particularly root on the host,
exists as deus ex machina, the god outside the machine.  They are at
my mercy.  Even hardware virtualization can not protect you from the
host.  You wanna hear some frightening talks on virtualization, catch
Joanna (miss little blue pill) Rutkowska some time.  I'm particularly
interesting in her takes on the anti evil-maid attacks and I sat in on
her talks on the north bridge and south bridge malware evasion
techniques.  She's a good speaker who makes powerful points that makes
you sweat but is pleasant in face to face conversation.  I've played
with her Qubes distribution a couple of times and the way it works with
the TPM to insure a secure boot is interesting.  But that's a completely
different topic on trusted computing.

OTOH, there are plenty of other things to worry about in all forms of
virtualization.  At Internet Security Systems, where I was a founder,
fellow, and X-Force Senior Wizard, we were looking at the ability to
leak information through the USB subsystem.  No isolation is perfect,
especially when you have USB enabled.

But that's my turf.

 I don't think the intention is to label anyone's implementation as
 preferred.  What this shows, I think, is that we all have different
 practises when it comes to setting up containers.  Some are necessary
 because our containers are different.  Some could do with serious
 examination to see if there's really a best way to do the action which
 we would then all use.

And I hope to contribute to the discussion of said actions.

  I might believe you were never told they would need them, but that's a
  totally different sense.  Are we going to tell RedHat and the Docker
  people that LXC is an inferior technology that is complex and unreliable
  (to quote another poster) compared to these others?  They're saying this
  will be enterprise technology.  If I go to Amazon AWS or other VPS
  services and compare, are we not going to stand on a level playing
  field?  Admittedly, I don't expect Amazon AWS to provide me with serial
  consoles, but I do expect to be able to mount file system images within
  my VPS.

 Well, that's another nasty, isn't it.  We all have different ways of
 coping with mount in the container.  I think at plumbers we need to sit
 down with some of this plumbing and work out which pipes carry the same
 fluids and whether we could unify them.

Concur

 As an aside (probably requiring a new thread) we were wondering about
 some type of notifier on the mount call that we could vector into the
 host to perform the action.  The main issue for us is mount of procfs,
 which really needs to be a bind mount in a container.  All of this led
 me to speculate that we could use some type of syscall notifier
 mechanism to manage capabilities in the host and even intercept and
 complete the syscall action within the host rather than having to keep
 evolving more an more complex kernel drivers to do this.

Interesting.  That could be very useful.  That might even help with the
loop device case where the mounts have to go through loop devices for
things like file system images and builds.  Very interesting...

 James

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] Mount and other notifiers, was: [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 12:52 -0700, James Bottomley wrote:
 On Fri, 2014-05-16 at 15:42 -0400, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
   As an aside (probably requiring a new thread) we were wondering about
   some type of notifier on the mount call that we could vector into the
   host to perform the action.  The main issue for us is mount of procfs,
   which really needs to be a bind mount in a container.  All of this led
   me to speculate that we could use some type of syscall notifier
   mechanism to manage capabilities in the host and even intercept and
   complete the syscall action within the host rather than having to keep
   evolving more an more complex kernel drivers to do this.
  
  Interesting.  That could be very useful.  That might even help with the
  loop device case where the mounts have to go through loop devices for
  things like file system images and builds.  Very interesting...

 Right, it might even make the loop case go away because now we can
 present a dummy device in the container and when the host sees and
 attempted mount on this, it just projects a bind mount into the
 container and says I've *wink* mounted your device for you.

Nice.  That idea has prospects.  I like the concept.

 This idea is extremely rough, it came from a conversation I had with
 Pavel (cc'd) just before OpenStack about how we might go about
 eliminating our OpenVZ interception of the mount system call which
 currently does all of this in kernel, so we have no code and no proof
 that it's actually feasible (yet).

K.  I look forward to hearing more.

I switched from OpenVZ years ago to LXC because OpenVZ was falling too
far behind in kernel support and patches for the leading edge kernels.
At the time, I was working on the MD5 signature code for the Quagga
routing suite for BGP and couldn't maintain my hosts with OpenVZ and
maintain my BGP connections (I have a public ASN and peer on both IPv4
and IPv6) with MD5 signatures at the same time.  At the time LXC had
just matured enough to serve my needs.  That's interesting to note that
OpenVZ did this by intercepting the mount call.  Very interesting...

 James

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-15 Thread Michael H. Warfield
; That also seems like something worth talking about (best practices,
> > shortcomings, use cases not met by it, any ways tha the kernel can
> > help out) at ksummit/linuxcon.

> I was told that containers would never want devices hotplugged into
> them.

Interesting.  You were told they (who they?) would never want them?  Who
said that?  I would have never thought that given that other
implementations can provide that.  I would certainly want them.  Seems
strange to explicitly relegate LXC containers to being second class
citizens behind OpenVZ, Parallels, BSD Gaols, and Solaris Zones.

I might believe you were never told they would need them, but that's a
totally different sense.  Are we going to tell RedHat and the Docker
people that LXC is an inferior technology that is complex and unreliable
(to quote another poster) compared to these others?  They're saying this
will be enterprise technology.  If I go to Amazon AWS or other VPS
services and compare, are we not going to stand on a level playing
field?  Admittedly, I don't expect Amazon AWS to provide me with serial
consoles, but I do expect to be able to mount file system images within
my VPS.

> What use case has this happening / needed?

Hello?  Dink...  Dink...  Is this microphone on?  I've already detailed
out a use case (serial USB console case) that I'm dealing with now.
Now, I'm dealing with it in host user space and that's probably the
correct answer there.  I probably don't need kernel space help in this
particular case.  There's still a lot of bolt holes to fill with bolts
though for the more general case.  It's not the common case but it is a
valid legitimate use case and one that would be expected of a "virtual
machine" (VirtualBox can handle it - waste of computing cycles that it
is).  The loopback device case is even more common and, currently,
rather inconsistent but strangle self consistent and workable.

In the 80/20 case, I agree we can and should deal with this in the host
user space as much as possible.  That's the realm I'm working within.
Seth and others seem to want more in the namespace region and I'm not
convinced.  But, I'm not convinced we can accomplish everything in user
space either.

We've got use cases and we've got problem sets.  Don't give into
confirmational bias and automatically discount the use cases that have
been mentioned and then assume there are none.  I don't know if Seth's
paths are part of the answer or not.  I'm not pro Seth's patches or
against Seth's patches but we've got a need in search of solutions.

> thanks,

> greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-15 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Wed, 2014-05-14 at 21:00 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 10:15:27PM -0500, Seth Forshee wrote:
> > On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 10:17:31PM -0400, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> > > > > Using devtmpfs is one possible
> > > > > solution, and it would have the added benefit of making container 
> > > > > setup
> > > > > simpler. But simply letting containers mount devtmpfs isn't sufficient
> > > > > since the container may need to see a different, more limited set of
> > > > > devices, and because different environments making modifications to
> > > > > the filesystem could lead to conflicts.
> > > > > 
> > > > > This series solves these problems by assigning devices to user
> > > > > namespaces. Each device has an "owner" namespace which specifies which
> > > > > devtmpfs mount the device should appear in as well allowing priveleged
> > > > > operations on the device from that namespace. This defaults to
> > > > > init_user_ns. There's also an ns_global flag to indicate a device 
> > > > > should
> > > > > appear in all devtmpfs mounts.
> > > 
> > > > I'd strongly argue that this isn't even a "problem" at all.  And, as I
> > > > said at the Plumbers conference last year, adding namespaces to devices
> > > > isn't going to happen, sorry.  Please don't continue down this path.
> > > 
> > > I was just mentioning that to Serge just a week or so ago reminding him
> > > of what you told all of us face to face back then.  We were having a
> > > discussion over loop devices into containers and this topic came up.
> > 
> > It was the loop device use case that got me started down this path in
> > the first place, so I don't personally have any interest in physical
> > devices right now (though I was sure others would).

> Why do you want to give access to a loop device to a container?
> Shouldn't you set up the loop devices before creating the container and
> then pass those mount points into the container?  I thought that was how
> things worked today, or am I missing something?

Ah, you keep feeding me easy ones.  I need raw access to loop devices
and loop-control because I'm using containers to build NST (Network
Security Toolkit) distribution iso images (one container is x86_64 while
the other is i686).  Each requires 2 loop devices.  You can't set up the
loop devices in advance since the containers will be creating the images
and building them.  NST tinkers with the base build engine
configuration, so I really DON'T want it running on a hard iron host. 
There may be other cases where I need other specialized containers for
building distros.  I'm also looking at custom builds of Kali (another
security distribution).

> Giving the ability for a container to create a loop device at all is a
> horrid idea, as you have pointed out, lots of information leakage could
> easily happen.

It does but only slightly.  I noticed that losetup will list all the
devices regardless of container where run or the container where set up.
But that seems to be largely cosmetic.  You can't do anything with the
loop device in the other container.  You can't disconnected it, read it,
or mount it (I've tested it).  In the former case, losetup returns with
no error but does nothing.  In the later case, you get a busy error.
Not clean, not pretty, but no damage.  Since loop-control is working on
the global pool of loop devices, it's impossible to know what device to
move to what container when the container runs losetup.

For me, this isn't a serious problem, since it only involves 2
specialized containers out of over 4 dozen containers I have running
across 3 sites.  And those two containers are under my explicit and
exclusive control.  None of the others need it.  I can get away with
adding extra loop devices and adding them to the containers and let
losetup deal with allocation and contention.

Serge mentioned something to me about a loopdevfs (?) thing that someone
else is working on.  That would seem to be a better solution in this
particular case but I don't know much about it or where it's at.

Mind you, I heard your arguments at LinuxPlumbers regarding pushing user
space policies into the kernel and all and basically I agree with you,
this should be handled in host system user space and it seems
reasonable.  I'm just pointing out real world cases I have in operation
right now and pointing out that I have solutions for them in host user
space, even if some of them may not be estheticly pretty.

> greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-15 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Wed, 2014-05-14 at 21:00 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
 On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 10:15:27PM -0500, Seth Forshee wrote:
  On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 10:17:31PM -0400, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
 Using devtmpfs is one possible
 solution, and it would have the added benefit of making container 
 setup
 simpler. But simply letting containers mount devtmpfs isn't sufficient
 since the container may need to see a different, more limited set of
 devices, and because different environments making modifications to
 the filesystem could lead to conflicts.
 
 This series solves these problems by assigning devices to user
 namespaces. Each device has an owner namespace which specifies which
 devtmpfs mount the device should appear in as well allowing priveleged
 operations on the device from that namespace. This defaults to
 init_user_ns. There's also an ns_global flag to indicate a device 
 should
 appear in all devtmpfs mounts.
   
I'd strongly argue that this isn't even a problem at all.  And, as I
said at the Plumbers conference last year, adding namespaces to devices
isn't going to happen, sorry.  Please don't continue down this path.
   
   I was just mentioning that to Serge just a week or so ago reminding him
   of what you told all of us face to face back then.  We were having a
   discussion over loop devices into containers and this topic came up.
  
  It was the loop device use case that got me started down this path in
  the first place, so I don't personally have any interest in physical
  devices right now (though I was sure others would).

 Why do you want to give access to a loop device to a container?
 Shouldn't you set up the loop devices before creating the container and
 then pass those mount points into the container?  I thought that was how
 things worked today, or am I missing something?

Ah, you keep feeding me easy ones.  I need raw access to loop devices
and loop-control because I'm using containers to build NST (Network
Security Toolkit) distribution iso images (one container is x86_64 while
the other is i686).  Each requires 2 loop devices.  You can't set up the
loop devices in advance since the containers will be creating the images
and building them.  NST tinkers with the base build engine
configuration, so I really DON'T want it running on a hard iron host. 
There may be other cases where I need other specialized containers for
building distros.  I'm also looking at custom builds of Kali (another
security distribution).

 Giving the ability for a container to create a loop device at all is a
 horrid idea, as you have pointed out, lots of information leakage could
 easily happen.

It does but only slightly.  I noticed that losetup will list all the
devices regardless of container where run or the container where set up.
But that seems to be largely cosmetic.  You can't do anything with the
loop device in the other container.  You can't disconnected it, read it,
or mount it (I've tested it).  In the former case, losetup returns with
no error but does nothing.  In the later case, you get a busy error.
Not clean, not pretty, but no damage.  Since loop-control is working on
the global pool of loop devices, it's impossible to know what device to
move to what container when the container runs losetup.

For me, this isn't a serious problem, since it only involves 2
specialized containers out of over 4 dozen containers I have running
across 3 sites.  And those two containers are under my explicit and
exclusive control.  None of the others need it.  I can get away with
adding extra loop devices and adding them to the containers and let
losetup deal with allocation and contention.

Serge mentioned something to me about a loopdevfs (?) thing that someone
else is working on.  That would seem to be a better solution in this
particular case but I don't know much about it or where it's at.

Mind you, I heard your arguments at LinuxPlumbers regarding pushing user
space policies into the kernel and all and basically I agree with you,
this should be handled in host system user space and it seems
reasonable.  I'm just pointing out real world cases I have in operation
right now and pointing out that I have solutions for them in host user
space, even if some of them may not be estheticly pretty.

 greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-15 Thread Michael H. Warfield
 certainly want them.  Seems
strange to explicitly relegate LXC containers to being second class
citizens behind OpenVZ, Parallels, BSD Gaols, and Solaris Zones.

I might believe you were never told they would need them, but that's a
totally different sense.  Are we going to tell RedHat and the Docker
people that LXC is an inferior technology that is complex and unreliable
(to quote another poster) compared to these others?  They're saying this
will be enterprise technology.  If I go to Amazon AWS or other VPS
services and compare, are we not going to stand on a level playing
field?  Admittedly, I don't expect Amazon AWS to provide me with serial
consoles, but I do expect to be able to mount file system images within
my VPS.

 What use case has this happening / needed?

Hello?  Dink...  Dink...  Is this microphone on?  I've already detailed
out a use case (serial USB console case) that I'm dealing with now.
Now, I'm dealing with it in host user space and that's probably the
correct answer there.  I probably don't need kernel space help in this
particular case.  There's still a lot of bolt holes to fill with bolts
though for the more general case.  It's not the common case but it is a
valid legitimate use case and one that would be expected of a virtual
machine (VirtualBox can handle it - waste of computing cycles that it
is).  The loopback device case is even more common and, currently,
rather inconsistent but strangle self consistent and workable.

In the 80/20 case, I agree we can and should deal with this in the host
user space as much as possible.  That's the realm I'm working within.
Seth and others seem to want more in the namespace region and I'm not
convinced.  But, I'm not convinced we can accomplish everything in user
space either.

We've got use cases and we've got problem sets.  Don't give into
confirmational bias and automatically discount the use cases that have
been mentioned and then assume there are none.  I don't know if Seth's
paths are part of the answer or not.  I'm not pro Seth's patches or
against Seth's patches but we've got a need in search of solutions.

 thanks,

 greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-14 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Wed, 2014-05-14 at 18:32 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 04:34:48PM -0500, Seth Forshee wrote:
> > Unpriveleged containers cannot run mknod, making it difficult to support
> > devices which appear at runtime.

> Wait.

> Why would you even want a container to see a "new" device?  That's the
> whole point, your container should see a "clean" system, not the "this
> USB device was just plugged in" system.  Otherwise, how are you going to
> even tell that container a new device showed up?  Are you now going to
> add udev support in containers?  Hah, no.

Oooo...  I can answer that...  Tell me if you've heard this one
before...  (You have back in NOLA last summer)...

I use a USB sharing device that controls a multiport USB serial device
controlling serial consoles to 16 servers and shared between 4
controlling servers.  The sharing control port (a USB HID device) should
be shared between designated containers so that any designated container
owner can "request" a console to one of the other servers (yeah, I know
there can be contention but that's the way the cookie crumbles - most of
the time it's on the master host).  Once they get the sharing device's
attention, they "lose" that HID control device (it disappears from /dev
entirely) and they gain only their designated USBtty{n} device for their
console.  Dynamic devices at their finest.

I worked out a way of dealing with it using udev rules in the host and
shifting devices using subdirectories in /dev.  I got the infrastructure
implemented but didn't finish the specific udev rules.

> > Using devtmpfs is one possible
> > solution, and it would have the added benefit of making container setup
> > simpler. But simply letting containers mount devtmpfs isn't sufficient
> > since the container may need to see a different, more limited set of
> > devices, and because different environments making modifications to
> > the filesystem could lead to conflicts.
> > 
> > This series solves these problems by assigning devices to user
> > namespaces. Each device has an "owner" namespace which specifies which
> > devtmpfs mount the device should appear in as well allowing priveleged
> > operations on the device from that namespace. This defaults to
> > init_user_ns. There's also an ns_global flag to indicate a device should
> > appear in all devtmpfs mounts.

> I'd strongly argue that this isn't even a "problem" at all.  And, as I
> said at the Plumbers conference last year, adding namespaces to devices
> isn't going to happen, sorry.  Please don't continue down this path.

I was just mentioning that to Serge just a week or so ago reminding him
of what you told all of us face to face back then.  We were having a
discussion over loop devices into containers and this topic came up.

> greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [lxc-devel] [RFC PATCH 00/11] Add support for devtmpfs in user namespaces

2014-05-14 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Wed, 2014-05-14 at 18:32 -0700, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
 On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 04:34:48PM -0500, Seth Forshee wrote:
  Unpriveleged containers cannot run mknod, making it difficult to support
  devices which appear at runtime.

 Wait.

 Why would you even want a container to see a new device?  That's the
 whole point, your container should see a clean system, not the this
 USB device was just plugged in system.  Otherwise, how are you going to
 even tell that container a new device showed up?  Are you now going to
 add udev support in containers?  Hah, no.

Oooo...  I can answer that...  Tell me if you've heard this one
before...  (You have back in NOLA last summer)...

I use a USB sharing device that controls a multiport USB serial device
controlling serial consoles to 16 servers and shared between 4
controlling servers.  The sharing control port (a USB HID device) should
be shared between designated containers so that any designated container
owner can request a console to one of the other servers (yeah, I know
there can be contention but that's the way the cookie crumbles - most of
the time it's on the master host).  Once they get the sharing device's
attention, they lose that HID control device (it disappears from /dev
entirely) and they gain only their designated USBtty{n} device for their
console.  Dynamic devices at their finest.

I worked out a way of dealing with it using udev rules in the host and
shifting devices using subdirectories in /dev.  I got the infrastructure
implemented but didn't finish the specific udev rules.

  Using devtmpfs is one possible
  solution, and it would have the added benefit of making container setup
  simpler. But simply letting containers mount devtmpfs isn't sufficient
  since the container may need to see a different, more limited set of
  devices, and because different environments making modifications to
  the filesystem could lead to conflicts.
  
  This series solves these problems by assigning devices to user
  namespaces. Each device has an owner namespace which specifies which
  devtmpfs mount the device should appear in as well allowing priveleged
  operations on the device from that namespace. This defaults to
  init_user_ns. There's also an ns_global flag to indicate a device should
  appear in all devtmpfs mounts.

 I'd strongly argue that this isn't even a problem at all.  And, as I
 said at the Plumbers conference last year, adding namespaces to devices
 isn't going to happen, sorry.  Please don't continue down this path.

I was just mentioning that to Serge just a week or so ago reminding him
of what you told all of us face to face back then.  We were having a
discussion over loop devices into containers and this topic came up.

 greg k-h

Regards,
Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 978-7061 |  m...@wittsend.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: 2.6.24: Serial disabled in BIOS but serial modules still loaded (probably PnP related)

2007-11-24 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Sat, 2007-11-24 at 23:36 +0300, Andrey Borzenkov wrote:
> I have no COM port on notebook (without port replicator which I do not have)
> so COM is disabled in BIOS. No ttyS* is detected during boot (and no device
> created) but I just noticed that serial modules are still loaded. Well, this
> partially defeats the purpose of disabling COM port - the intention was to
> free resources by *not* loading unneeded modules ...

> This may have something to do with (ACPI) PnP which apparently believes COM 
> is alive.
> Notebook is Toshiba Portege 4000.

Nice...  What's this then?

> 00:09 PNP0501 16550A-compatible serial port
> state = active
> io 0x3f8-0x3ff
> irq 5

0x3f8-0x3ff is COM1 and a 16550A is the most common invocation of the
vernerable serial port.  I haven't seen a real 8250 in ages.  the 16550
is an 8250 with larger FIFO's and better rates.

Now, it's on IRQ5 instead of IRQ4 but that's all allocatable on PCI.
Unless I'm missing something, it looks like you've got a COM port and it
looks like it's active.

Might be related to an IR port?

> 00:0a SMCf010 SMC Fast Infrared Port
> state = disabled

> 00:0b PNP0401 ECP printer port
>     state = disabled

:

Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: 2.6.24: Serial disabled in BIOS but serial modules still loaded (probably PnP related)

2007-11-24 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Sat, 2007-11-24 at 23:36 +0300, Andrey Borzenkov wrote:
 I have no COM port on notebook (without port replicator which I do not have)
 so COM is disabled in BIOS. No ttyS* is detected during boot (and no device
 created) but I just noticed that serial modules are still loaded. Well, this
 partially defeats the purpose of disabling COM port - the intention was to
 free resources by *not* loading unneeded modules ...

 This may have something to do with (ACPI) PnP which apparently believes COM 
 is alive.
 Notebook is Toshiba Portege 4000.

Nice...  What's this then?

 00:09 PNP0501 16550A-compatible serial port
 state = active
 io 0x3f8-0x3ff
 irq 5

0x3f8-0x3ff is COM1 and a 16550A is the most common invocation of the
vernerable serial port.  I haven't seen a real 8250 in ages.  the 16550
is an 8250 with larger FIFO's and better rates.

Now, it's on IRQ5 instead of IRQ4 but that's all allocatable on PCI.
Unless I'm missing something, it looks like you've got a COM port and it
looks like it's active.

Might be related to an IR port?

 00:0a SMCf010 SMC Fast Infrared Port
 state = disabled

 00:0b PNP0401 ECP printer port
 state = disabled

:

Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/  | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9  | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471| possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!



signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Re: [2.6 patch] remove obsolete Computone MAINTAINERS entry (fwd)

2005-01-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Sat, Jan 01, 2005 at 06:28:32PM +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote:

> At least the mailing list is definitely dead:

The mailing list use to be run by Louis Zamora who use to work for
Computone.  Guess I need to deal with that and move it to some of my
own hardware.  I hadn't realized it was out of commission.

> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> Sorry, I wasn't able to establish an SMTP connection. (#4.4.1)
> I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long.

> > I've got two patches in my queue for the Computone drivers for
> > 2.6 plus three patches that apply to both the 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.  I've
> > got to check to see if Marcelo got around to integrating those patches
> > into 2.4 and then jump onto the combined patches.

> > As Shrek said...  (You didn't slay the dragon?) - "It's on my
> > todo list".

> It seems you are still active :-) , so why is it "Orphaned"?

Good question.  Probably someone jumping the gun a bit because
I haven't been very active on that driver lately.  I do tend to drop
off the radar for months at a time, depending on other projects and
engagements.  I haven't done updates to the driver in the 2.6 kernel
and, yes, it is broken.

Marcelo integrated my 2.4 patches and I've got testers running
that code now.  I've got a 2.6 patch that integrates those fixes and
fixes some 2.6 problems.  In the course of working on the 2.6 patch
I stumbled onto another problem that had to be retrofitted back into
the 2.4 patch which, fortunately, made it into the patch I gave to
Marcelo.  I'm looking over a couple of other changes that went in with
that 2.4 update.  I'll try and get a patch out in a couple of days
against 2.6.10.

> > Mike

> cu
> Adrian

> -- 

>"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
> of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
>    "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
>Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/   |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!


pgpB84aQc0l58.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Re: [2.6 patch] remove obsolete Computone MAINTAINERS entry (fwd)

2005-01-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield
On Sat, Jan 01, 2005 at 06:28:32PM +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote:

 At least the mailing list is definitely dead:

The mailing list use to be run by Louis Zamora who use to work for
Computone.  Guess I need to deal with that and move it to some of my
own hardware.  I hadn't realized it was out of commission.

 [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
 Sorry, I wasn't able to establish an SMTP connection. (#4.4.1)
 I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long.

  I've got two patches in my queue for the Computone drivers for
  2.6 plus three patches that apply to both the 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.  I've
  got to check to see if Marcelo got around to integrating those patches
  into 2.4 and then jump onto the combined patches.

  As Shrek said...  (You didn't slay the dragon?) - It's on my
  todo list.

 It seems you are still active :-) , so why is it Orphaned?

Good question.  Probably someone jumping the gun a bit because
I haven't been very active on that driver lately.  I do tend to drop
off the radar for months at a time, depending on other projects and
engagements.  I haven't done updates to the driver in the 2.6 kernel
and, yes, it is broken.

Marcelo integrated my 2.4 patches and I've got testers running
that code now.  I've got a 2.6 patch that integrates those fixes and
fixes some 2.6 problems.  In the course of working on the 2.6 patch
I stumbled onto another problem that had to be retrofitted back into
the 2.4 patch which, fortunately, made it into the patch I gave to
Marcelo.  I'm looking over a couple of other changes that went in with
that 2.4 update.  I'll try and get a patch out in a couple of days
against 2.6.10.

  Mike

 cu
 Adrian

 -- 

Is there not promise of rain? Ling Tan asked suddenly out
 of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
Only a promise, Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/   |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!


pgpB84aQc0l58.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Re: [PATCH] catch potential null derefs in drivers/char/ip2main.c (245ac16)

2001-06-24 Thread Michael H. Warfield
>(box+i*ABS_MAX_BOXES));
> + }
> + }
>   }
> - }
>   }
>  #endif
>  
> -- 
> Regards,
> Rasmus([EMAIL PROTECTED])
> 
> A chicken and an egg are lying in bed. The chicken is smoking a
> cigarette with a satisfied smile on it's face and the egg is frowning
> and looking a bit pissed off. The egg mutters, to no-one in particular,
> "Well, I guess we answered THAT question..."

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [PATCH] catch potential null derefs in drivers/char/ip2main.c (245ac16)

2001-06-24 Thread Michael H. Warfield
 is frowning
 and looking a bit pissed off. The egg mutters, to no-one in particular,
 Well, I guess we answered THAT question...

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 01:33:44PM -0800, Leif Sawyer wrote:
> > From: L. K. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > I really do not belive that for a CPU or a motherboard +- 1 
> > degree would make any difference.

> You haven't pushed your system, or run it in a hostile
> environment then.  There are many places where systems are run
> right up to the edge of thermal breakdown, and it's a firm
> requirement to know exactly what that edge is.


> > If a CPU runs fine at, say, 37 degrees C, I do not belive it 
> > will have any problems running at 38 or 36 degrees. I support
> > the ideea of having very good sensors for temperature
> > monitoring, but CPU and motherboard temperature do not depend
> > on the rise of the temperature of 1 degree, but when the
> > temperature rises 10 or more degrees. I hope you understand
> > what I want to say.

> I have a CPU that runs great up to 43C, and shuts down hard at 44C
> so I obviously want to know how close I am to that.  I don't want
> rounding errors to get in the way, and I don't want changes
> between kernel revs to affect it either.

If the rounding errors are less than the accuracy and the
reproducibility of your sensor, and you operate in that range and
depend on those values, then you have no clue where you are, no
matter what your granularity.  You sound like the classic example
of why we should NOT do this.  You are foolish enough to depend on
that precision and think that it's accuracy and think that it means
something in comparision to the identical measurement 15 minutes later.
It does not.

> If we've got the bitspace, keep the counters as granular as
> possible within the useable range that we're designing for.

> counter = .01 * degrees kelvin

Then you are being foolish.

Your sensors are neither accurate to that degree nor are they
reproducible to that degree.  What you are describing is jibberish.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 05:16:39PM -0400, Albert D. Cahalan wrote:

> The bits are free; the API is hard to change.
> Sensors might get better, at least on high-end systems.
> Rounding gives a constant 0.15 degree error.
> Only the truly stupid would assume accuracy from decimal places.
> Again, the bits are free; the API is hard to change.

Twice a year I'm a judge at science fairs.  Once at the local
level and once at the state level.  I generally judge on the senior
level in the physics category.  All too often I have a hard time even
convincing some of my fellow judges.

Each year there is at least one project where some student has
used "fancy scientific equipment" to make measurements of impressive
precision and beautiful results.  Till you look closer and you find that
their standard deviation is as large as their averages and their raw
test results are all over the map.  With 5 or more decimal places of
precision, you find that their sample sizes and proceedures don't even
support one or two decimal places, if they are lucky.

If it were not for the fact that I don't think they are really
that good at it, I would give them an award for "if you can't dazzle them
with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit".  Unfortunately, they honestly
don't KNOW the difference between precision and accuracy.  We often
judge between a half a dozen and a dozen exhibits.  This comes up
every year and gets written up in comments every year.  Of course, you
can't be harse in judging these things and most of them really do make a
legitimate effort, but it is difficult to tactfully explain to someone
why their elaborate and extremely detailed results amount to utter
jibberish.  (To the smartasses who are about to fire off the obligatory
smart remarks:  Trust me, I am much more tactful with those students
than I am on this list...  Maybe I shouldn't be.  Read that either way.)

What's more apalling is that their teachers did not catch this
and I have to point out the fatal flaws to a lot of my co-judges who
were impressed with the scientific prowess of these individuals.

No...  The average person, NO, the vast majority of people,
DO assume accuracy from decimal places and honestly do not know the
difference between precision and accuracy.  I've had comments on this
thread in private E-Mail the reinforce this impression.

Yes, bits are free, sort of...  That's why an extra decimal
place is "ok".  Keeping precision within an order of magnitude of
accuracy is within the realm of reasonable.  Running out to two decimal
places for this particular application is just silly.  If it were for
calibrated lab equipment, fine.  But not for CPU temperatures.

Yes, APIs are difficult to change.  But can you honestly say
that, even if we magically get off the shelf economical temperature sensors
that are two orders of magnitude more accurate (without need of constant
tracible recalibration - these things DO drift), that this level of
precision would have any real meaning at all?  I would expect the
CPU temperature to vary by a few hundreths of a degree just by how
many people were sweating in the cube next to me.

Even the rounding error vis-a-vis the .15 is silly and irrelevant!
If the sensor is +- 1 degree, you can't even measure the rounding error,
even if you HAVE two decimal places.  With that degree of accuracy, you
are no better off than 273 with no decimal places.  Worrying about rounding
error on .15 when the accuracy is in the units is exactly the kind of
misinformed false precision that I worry about.  You actually though that
the .15 was significant enough to worry about round error when, in fact,
it will be impossible to measure with the equipment available in the
environment of discourse.

> One might provide other numbers to specify accuracy and precision.

Now...  That I can agree with and it would make absolute sense.
Especially if we were discussing lab grade or scientific grade measure
equipment and measurements.  In fact, that would be a requirement for
any validity to be attached to measurements of that level of precision.
But that's not what we are talking about here, is it?  We're not talking
about a lab grade instrumentation API here, are we?  If we are, then
everything changes.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 08:43:06PM +0200, J . A . Magallon wrote:

> On 06.08 Michael H. Warfield wrote:

> > Actually, the REAL point I was TRYING to make (and doing a really
> > shabby job of it) is that some of this needs a little dose of reality.
> > We don't have sensors that are accurate to 1/10 of a K and certainly not
> > to 1/100 of a K.  Knowing the CPU temperature "precise" to .01 K when
> > the accuracy of the best sensor we are likely to see is no better than
> > +- 1 K is just about as relevant as negative absolute temperatures.

> Lets see, somebody can develop lab equipment (dont think on PTRs or
> thermistors in common world) that givee 10e-3 precission, and you are just
> making linux not suitable to control that hardware. Think open.
> What is the real difference between managing temperatures with a short
> or a long ?. Is it really needed to fit it in a short ??!!!
> I would use an unsigned long with fixed point and all done.

No, we are not talking lab instrumentation here.  We are talking
about CPU monitoring.  Lab instrumentation is a whole different issue
with things like the IEEE bus and such.  Lab instrumentation would require
it's own drivers and interface.

> -- 
> J.A. Magallon   #  Let the source be with you...
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Linux Mandrake release 8.1 (Cooker) for i586
> Linux werewolf 2.4.5-ac9 #1 SMP Wed Jun 6 09:57:46 CEST 2001 i686

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 08:43:06PM +0200, J . A . Magallon wrote:

 On 06.08 Michael H. Warfield wrote:

  Actually, the REAL point I was TRYING to make (and doing a really
  shabby job of it) is that some of this needs a little dose of reality.
  We don't have sensors that are accurate to 1/10 of a K and certainly not
  to 1/100 of a K.  Knowing the CPU temperature precise to .01 K when
  the accuracy of the best sensor we are likely to see is no better than
  +- 1 K is just about as relevant as negative absolute temperatures.

 Lets see, somebody can develop lab equipment (dont think on PTRs or
 thermistors in common world) that givee 10e-3 precission, and you are just
 making linux not suitable to control that hardware. Think open.
 What is the real difference between managing temperatures with a short
 or a long ?. Is it really needed to fit it in a short ??!!!
 I would use an unsigned long with fixed point and all done.

No, we are not talking lab instrumentation here.  We are talking
about CPU monitoring.  Lab instrumentation is a whole different issue
with things like the IEEE bus and such.  Lab instrumentation would require
it's own drivers and interface.

 -- 
 J.A. Magallon   #  Let the source be with you...
 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Linux Mandrake release 8.1 (Cooker) for i586
 Linux werewolf 2.4.5-ac9 #1 SMP Wed Jun 6 09:57:46 CEST 2001 i686

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 05:16:39PM -0400, Albert D. Cahalan wrote:

 The bits are free; the API is hard to change.
 Sensors might get better, at least on high-end systems.
 Rounding gives a constant 0.15 degree error.
 Only the truly stupid would assume accuracy from decimal places.
 Again, the bits are free; the API is hard to change.

Twice a year I'm a judge at science fairs.  Once at the local
level and once at the state level.  I generally judge on the senior
level in the physics category.  All too often I have a hard time even
convincing some of my fellow judges.

Each year there is at least one project where some student has
used fancy scientific equipment to make measurements of impressive
precision and beautiful results.  Till you look closer and you find that
their standard deviation is as large as their averages and their raw
test results are all over the map.  With 5 or more decimal places of
precision, you find that their sample sizes and proceedures don't even
support one or two decimal places, if they are lucky.

If it were not for the fact that I don't think they are really
that good at it, I would give them an award for if you can't dazzle them
with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.  Unfortunately, they honestly
don't KNOW the difference between precision and accuracy.  We often
judge between a half a dozen and a dozen exhibits.  This comes up
every year and gets written up in comments every year.  Of course, you
can't be harse in judging these things and most of them really do make a
legitimate effort, but it is difficult to tactfully explain to someone
why their elaborate and extremely detailed results amount to utter
jibberish.  (To the smartasses who are about to fire off the obligatory
smart remarks:  Trust me, I am much more tactful with those students
than I am on this list...  Maybe I shouldn't be.  Read that either way.)

What's more apalling is that their teachers did not catch this
and I have to point out the fatal flaws to a lot of my co-judges who
were impressed with the scientific prowess of these individuals.

No...  The average person, NO, the vast majority of people,
DO assume accuracy from decimal places and honestly do not know the
difference between precision and accuracy.  I've had comments on this
thread in private E-Mail the reinforce this impression.

Yes, bits are free, sort of...  That's why an extra decimal
place is ok.  Keeping precision within an order of magnitude of
accuracy is within the realm of reasonable.  Running out to two decimal
places for this particular application is just silly.  If it were for
calibrated lab equipment, fine.  But not for CPU temperatures.

Yes, APIs are difficult to change.  But can you honestly say
that, even if we magically get off the shelf economical temperature sensors
that are two orders of magnitude more accurate (without need of constant
tracible recalibration - these things DO drift), that this level of
precision would have any real meaning at all?  I would expect the
CPU temperature to vary by a few hundreths of a degree just by how
many people were sweating in the cube next to me.

Even the rounding error vis-a-vis the .15 is silly and irrelevant!
If the sensor is +- 1 degree, you can't even measure the rounding error,
even if you HAVE two decimal places.  With that degree of accuracy, you
are no better off than 273 with no decimal places.  Worrying about rounding
error on .15 when the accuracy is in the units is exactly the kind of
misinformed false precision that I worry about.  You actually though that
the .15 was significant enough to worry about round error when, in fact,
it will be impossible to measure with the equipment available in the
environment of discourse.

 One might provide other numbers to specify accuracy and precision.

Now...  That I can agree with and it would make absolute sense.
Especially if we were discussing lab grade or scientific grade measure
equipment and measurements.  In fact, that would be a requirement for
any validity to be attached to measurements of that level of precision.
But that's not what we are talking about here, is it?  We're not talking
about a lab grade instrumentation API here, are we?  If we are, then
everything changes.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 01:33:44PM -0800, Leif Sawyer wrote:
  From: L. K. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
  I really do not belive that for a CPU or a motherboard +- 1 
  degree would make any difference.

 You haven't pushed your system, or run it in a hostile
 environment then.  There are many places where systems are run
 right up to the edge of thermal breakdown, and it's a firm
 requirement to know exactly what that edge is.


  If a CPU runs fine at, say, 37 degrees C, I do not belive it 
  will have any problems running at 38 or 36 degrees. I support
  the ideea of having very good sensors for temperature
  monitoring, but CPU and motherboard temperature do not depend
  on the rise of the temperature of 1 degree, but when the
  temperature rises 10 or more degrees. I hope you understand
  what I want to say.

 I have a CPU that runs great up to 43C, and shuts down hard at 44C
 so I obviously want to know how close I am to that.  I don't want
 rounding errors to get in the way, and I don't want changes
 between kernel revs to affect it either.

If the rounding errors are less than the accuracy and the
reproducibility of your sensor, and you operate in that range and
depend on those values, then you have no clue where you are, no
matter what your granularity.  You sound like the classic example
of why we should NOT do this.  You are foolish enough to depend on
that precision and think that it's accuracy and think that it means
something in comparision to the identical measurement 15 minutes later.
It does not.

 If we've got the bitspace, keep the counters as granular as
 possible within the useable range that we're designing for.

 counter = .01 * degrees kelvin

Then you are being foolish.

Your sensors are neither accurate to that degree nor are they
reproducible to that degree.  What you are describing is jibberish.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Jun 07, 2001 at 08:03:58PM -0400, Albert D. Cahalan wrote:
> Chris Boot writes:
> 
> >>>> Kelvins good idea in general - it is always positive ;-)
> >>>>
> >>>> 0.01*K fits in 16 bits and gives reasonable range.
> ...
> > OK, I think by now we've all agreed the following:
> >  - The issue is NOT displaying temperatures to the user, but a userspace
> >program reading them from the kernel.  The userspace program itself can
> >do temperature conversions for the user if he/she wants.
> >  - The most preferable units would be decikelvins, as the value can give a
> >relatively precise as well as wide range of numbers ranging from absolute
> >zero to about 6340 degrees Celsius ((65535 / 10) - 273) which is well
> >within anything that a computer can operate.  It also gives us a good
> >base for all sorts of other temperature sensing devices.
> >
> > Do we all agree on those now?
> 
> I nearly do.
> 
> There isn't any need to cram the data into 16 bits.
> The offset to Celsius is 273.15 degrees.
> So hundredths of a degree, in Kelvin, is a better choice.

[Let's see if I can argue boths sides of this fence plus a
third here.]

Who cares if you cram it into 16 bits.  It still works.

I think we can agree that negative degrees Kelvin are not relevant
(outside of VERY esoteric physics circles where negative absolute
temperatures are real and represent quantum mechanical states in
"population inversions".  i.e. Quantum mechanical temperatures hotter
than infinite - reference SciAm back in the mid 1970s.  I won an arguement
with a PhD high energy physics prof over that point back then).

Therefore, we have a 16 bit unsigned quantity which gives us a
range of 0 - 65535.  Translated as hundreths of a Kelvin, that works
out to 0 -> 655.35 K.  Ok...  That's -273.15 C -> 382.20 C.  And...
That's roughly -524 F -> 720 F.  Ok...  That covers everything from
superfluid Helium through MELTS GLASS with room for bobble.

In 16 bits.

What's the problem?

Other than what's the need for two digits of precision in something
that does not have even 1/100 of that accuracy?

A plague of many measuring systems is "false precision".  Why
provide precision (the units to which a measurement can be divided or
quantized) when the accuracy can not support it.  I would be amazed if
ANY CPU temperature monitors were any more accurate than to a degree C/K
or ~2 degrees F).  Hundreths of a degree K is basically silly nonsense.
The precision even for tenths of a degree K or C are just not supported by
the accuracy of the measuring device and are meaningless.  Even if it
COULD provide even something remotely similar to that level of precision
in it's accuracy, is it really relevant to know the CPU temperature to
1/100 of a degree C?

Looking at most temperature measuring chips today, unless you are
looking at lab-quality high-precision high-accuracy sensors, you are really
talking about a 12 bit sensor (+- a couple of bits) with an accuracy of
not much better than +-1 C.

Add the tenths if you want to be silly but returning hundreths
is just meaningless jibberish.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Jun 07, 2001 at 09:30:54PM +, mirabilos {Thorsten Glaser} wrote:
> It was posted by L. K. where I now add my 0.02 EUR...
> > On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Albert D. Cahalan wrote:
> > > Negative temperatures do not really exist.
> > Are you really sure about this ?

> I am. I made Abitur (german degree after 13yrs of school)
> with physics being an important course, and there can not
> be any temperature less than 0 K (or -273.15°C if you want).
> This is because temperature is nothing but the movement of
> pieces of materie (and even photons, ergo energy).

Then you must have blown your quantum finals.  Royally.  ESPECIALLY
after that statement about "temperature is nothing but the movement of
pieces of materie".  Not even close, once you get into the quant.

Mathematically and quantum mechanically, negative absolute
temperatures do exist.  In quantum mechanics, temperature is expressed as
probability populations in various quantum states.

Absolute zero is the quantum state were all particles are in
the ground state.  An infinite temperature is, quantum mechanically,
the condition where all states, ground and energetic, have an equal
probability of population.

A "population inversion" (a condition where the energized states
are more likely to be populated than the ground states) is at the heart
of many things we take for granted today such as lasers, masers, leds,
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and MRI (the medical use of NMR).

Those "population inversions" represents an "energized state"
that is more energetic than the state that would be present in a steady
state infinite temperature.

Mathematically, those states can actually be treated as negative
absolute temperatures.  IOW, negative absolute temperatures are actually
hotter than infinite.

It's true that these are not STEADY STATE conditions or in
equilibrium (which is how we take advantage of populations inversions -
by their actions in returning to equilibrium), but the math still works.
Just check out a few issues of Scientific American from the mid 1970's
on "Negative Absolute Temperatures in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance" and
to the scientific journals they reference.  I won an argument with
a physics prof (PhD in high energy physics) over that very issue when
I did the same thing in a 400 level senior level physics lab on NMR back
then.  It's actually pretty damn simple, once you work the math, and it
agravated him that he didn't believe it but couldn't argue with the math
till he saw the work and publication from someone else.  Then he conceeded
that I had him and I had been right.

IAC...  Negative absolute temperatures are about as meaningless
to this particular discussion as is expressing the temperature in 1/100s
of a Kelvin which would have a precision than exceeds the accuracy of
the measuring chips by two orders of magnitude.  IOW...  Both are silly
and meaningless to this case.  One is out of range in magnitude and one
is out of the range of accuracy.

> -mirabilos
> -- 
> C:\>debug
> -e100 EA F0 FF 00 F0
> -g
> --->Enjoy!

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Jun 07, 2001 at 09:30:54PM +, mirabilos {Thorsten Glaser} wrote:
 It was posted by L. K. where I now add my 0.02 EUR...
  On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Albert D. Cahalan wrote:
   Negative temperatures do not really exist.
  Are you really sure about this ?

 I am. I made Abitur (german degree after 13yrs of school)
 with physics being an important course, and there can not
 be any temperature less than 0 K (or -273.15°C if you want).
 This is because temperature is nothing but the movement of
 pieces of materie (and even photons, ergo energy).

Then you must have blown your quantum finals.  Royally.  ESPECIALLY
after that statement about temperature is nothing but the movement of
pieces of materie.  Not even close, once you get into the quant.

Mathematically and quantum mechanically, negative absolute
temperatures do exist.  In quantum mechanics, temperature is expressed as
probability populations in various quantum states.

Absolute zero is the quantum state were all particles are in
the ground state.  An infinite temperature is, quantum mechanically,
the condition where all states, ground and energetic, have an equal
probability of population.

A population inversion (a condition where the energized states
are more likely to be populated than the ground states) is at the heart
of many things we take for granted today such as lasers, masers, leds,
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and MRI (the medical use of NMR).

Those population inversions represents an energized state
that is more energetic than the state that would be present in a steady
state infinite temperature.

Mathematically, those states can actually be treated as negative
absolute temperatures.  IOW, negative absolute temperatures are actually
hotter than infinite.

It's true that these are not STEADY STATE conditions or in
equilibrium (which is how we take advantage of populations inversions -
by their actions in returning to equilibrium), but the math still works.
Just check out a few issues of Scientific American from the mid 1970's
on Negative Absolute Temperatures in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and
to the scientific journals they reference.  I won an argument with
a physics prof (PhD in high energy physics) over that very issue when
I did the same thing in a 400 level senior level physics lab on NMR back
then.  It's actually pretty damn simple, once you work the math, and it
agravated him that he didn't believe it but couldn't argue with the math
till he saw the work and publication from someone else.  Then he conceeded
that I had him and I had been right.

IAC...  Negative absolute temperatures are about as meaningless
to this particular discussion as is expressing the temperature in 1/100s
of a Kelvin which would have a precision than exceeds the accuracy of
the measuring chips by two orders of magnitude.  IOW...  Both are silly
and meaningless to this case.  One is out of range in magnitude and one
is out of the range of accuracy.

 -mirabilos
 -- 
 C:\debug
 -e100 EA F0 FF 00 F0
 -g
 ---Enjoy!

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: temperature standard - global config option?

2001-06-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Jun 07, 2001 at 08:03:58PM -0400, Albert D. Cahalan wrote:
 Chris Boot writes:
 
  Kelvins good idea in general - it is always positive ;-)
 
  0.01*K fits in 16 bits and gives reasonable range.
 ...
  OK, I think by now we've all agreed the following:
   - The issue is NOT displaying temperatures to the user, but a userspace
 program reading them from the kernel.  The userspace program itself can
 do temperature conversions for the user if he/she wants.
   - The most preferable units would be decikelvins, as the value can give a
 relatively precise as well as wide range of numbers ranging from absolute
 zero to about 6340 degrees Celsius ((65535 / 10) - 273) which is well
 within anything that a computer can operate.  It also gives us a good
 base for all sorts of other temperature sensing devices.
 
  Do we all agree on those now?
 
 I nearly do.
 
 There isn't any need to cram the data into 16 bits.
 The offset to Celsius is 273.15 degrees.
 So hundredths of a degree, in Kelvin, is a better choice.

[Let's see if I can argue boths sides of this fence plus a
third here.]

Who cares if you cram it into 16 bits.  It still works.

I think we can agree that negative degrees Kelvin are not relevant
(outside of VERY esoteric physics circles where negative absolute
temperatures are real and represent quantum mechanical states in
population inversions.  i.e. Quantum mechanical temperatures hotter
than infinite - reference SciAm back in the mid 1970s.  I won an arguement
with a PhD high energy physics prof over that point back then).

Therefore, we have a 16 bit unsigned quantity which gives us a
range of 0 - 65535.  Translated as hundreths of a Kelvin, that works
out to 0 - 655.35 K.  Ok...  That's -273.15 C - 382.20 C.  And...
That's roughly -524 F - 720 F.  Ok...  That covers everything from
superfluid Helium through MELTS GLASS with room for bobble.

In 16 bits.

What's the problem?

Other than what's the need for two digits of precision in something
that does not have even 1/100 of that accuracy?

A plague of many measuring systems is false precision.  Why
provide precision (the units to which a measurement can be divided or
quantized) when the accuracy can not support it.  I would be amazed if
ANY CPU temperature monitors were any more accurate than to a degree C/K
or ~2 degrees F).  Hundreths of a degree K is basically silly nonsense.
The precision even for tenths of a degree K or C are just not supported by
the accuracy of the measuring device and are meaningless.  Even if it
COULD provide even something remotely similar to that level of precision
in it's accuracy, is it really relevant to know the CPU temperature to
1/100 of a degree C?

Looking at most temperature measuring chips today, unless you are
looking at lab-quality high-precision high-accuracy sensors, you are really
talking about a 12 bit sensor (+- a couple of bits) with an accuracy of
not much better than +-1 C.

Add the tenths if you want to be silly but returning hundreths
is just meaningless jibberish.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: TRG vger.timpanogas.org hacked

2001-06-05 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 11:30:51AM -0700, Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 08:05:34AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> > > is curious as to how these folks did this.  They exploited BIND 8.2.3
> > > to get in and logs indicated that someone was using a "back door" in 

> > Bind runs as root.

> > > We are unable to determine just how they got in exactly, but they 
> > > kept trying and created an oops in the affected code which allowed 
> > > the attack to proceed.  

> > Are you sure they didnt in fact simply screw up live patching the kernel to
> > cover their traces

> Could have.  The kernel is unable to dismount the root volume when booted.
> I can go through the drive and remove confidential stuffd and just leave 
> the system intact and post the entire system image to my ftp server. 

This would be a good thing for those of us involved in investigating
these sorts of things.  :-/

> I have changed all the passwords on the server, so what's there is no 
> big deal.  This server was public FTP and web/email, so nothing really 
> super "confidential" on it.  

> Jeff

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: TRG vger.timpanogas.org hacked

2001-06-05 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 08:05:34AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> > is curious as to how these folks did this.  They exploited BIND 8.2.3
> > to get in and logs indicated that someone was using a "back door" in 

> Bind runs as root.

It doesn't have to.  In fact, I just set up a RedHat 6.2 Honeypot
a couple of weeks ago researching Bind based worms that are becoming
a problem.  Much to my surprise, that OOB RedHat 6.2 system ran bind
as "named -u named" and was running Bind under a common user id.  RedHat
6.0 runs it as root and I haven't checked 6.1 yet.  Don't know about the
other distros, yet.

> > We are unable to determine just how they got in exactly, but they 
> > kept trying and created an oops in the affected code which allowed 
> > the attack to proceed.  

> Are you sure they didnt in fact simply screw up live patching the kernel to
> cover their traces

That would be a hint that they MIGHT have been trying to get a
Linux kernel stealth module going.  Several of the worms I'm looking at
include the Adore LKM to hide processes, files, and sockets.  That worm
(as several others like it) also upgrade the version of Bind they broke
in through to prevent further compromise.  There will be a security
advisory out on these worms, probably later this week.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: TRG vger.timpanogas.org hacked

2001-06-05 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 08:05:34AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
  is curious as to how these folks did this.  They exploited BIND 8.2.3
  to get in and logs indicated that someone was using a back door in 

 Bind runs as root.

It doesn't have to.  In fact, I just set up a RedHat 6.2 Honeypot
a couple of weeks ago researching Bind based worms that are becoming
a problem.  Much to my surprise, that OOB RedHat 6.2 system ran bind
as named -u named and was running Bind under a common user id.  RedHat
6.0 runs it as root and I haven't checked 6.1 yet.  Don't know about the
other distros, yet.

  We are unable to determine just how they got in exactly, but they 
  kept trying and created an oops in the affected code which allowed 
  the attack to proceed.  

 Are you sure they didnt in fact simply screw up live patching the kernel to
 cover their traces

That would be a hint that they MIGHT have been trying to get a
Linux kernel stealth module going.  Several of the worms I'm looking at
include the Adore LKM to hide processes, files, and sockets.  That worm
(as several others like it) also upgrade the version of Bind they broke
in through to prevent further compromise.  There will be a security
advisory out on these worms, probably later this week.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: TRG vger.timpanogas.org hacked

2001-06-05 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 11:30:51AM -0700, Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
 On Tue, Jun 05, 2001 at 08:05:34AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
   is curious as to how these folks did this.  They exploited BIND 8.2.3
   to get in and logs indicated that someone was using a back door in 

  Bind runs as root.

   We are unable to determine just how they got in exactly, but they 
   kept trying and created an oops in the affected code which allowed 
   the attack to proceed.  

  Are you sure they didnt in fact simply screw up live patching the kernel to
  cover their traces

 Could have.  The kernel is unable to dismount the root volume when booted.
 I can go through the drive and remove confidential stuffd and just leave 
 the system intact and post the entire system image to my ftp server. 

This would be a good thing for those of us involved in investigating
these sorts of things.  :-/

 I have changed all the passwords on the server, so what's there is no 
 big deal.  This server was public FTP and web/email, so nothing really 
 super confidential on it.  

 Jeff

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OFF-TOPIC] 4 ports ETH cards

2001-05-30 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Wed, May 30, 2001 at 06:34:16PM -0300, Harald Welte wrote:
> On Tue, May 29, 2001 at 09:52:41AM +0200, Fabbione wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > sorry for the offtopic msg.
> > 
> > Can someone point me to a 4 ports fast/eth card solution for linux?

> D-Link DFE-570 has a reasonable pricing and is well supported by the 
> tulip driver

Just got three of these suckers and I'm about to order a bunch
more (happy camper)...

> > I found some cards based on the DEC 21*4* chips but when
> > I asked for more details I got a strange answer from the reseller
> > like that this card is able to work only half-duplex and the chip has
> > only one mac-address for the 4 eth cards (really strange).

> nah. And even if so, you can always change the mac-address using ifconfig.

Each D-Link card has four MAC addresses (sequential).  I doubt
other manufactures are any different.

> What the guy most likely wanted to say, is that there is only one EEprom
> containing all mac adresses for the four tulip chips, which I have seen
> on multiple boards

What the guy was doing was having a bad case of optical rectitus.
That would be typical of a "reseller" (AKA Salesman).  Most would not
even have a CLUE that the cards were based on the tulip chipset / driver.

Because the D-Link cards were less than half of the nearest
competitor [ < $180 vs > $360 for others and Compac was > $2400! ] I
ordered only three not knowing for sure if they would work.  Turned on
the tulip driver and them suckers fired right up.  Now I know they work,
stock, right out of the box, and I can order a bunch more for the lab
I'm working with.

> > Thanks a lot
> > Fabbione
> 
> -- 
> Live long and prosper
> - Harald Welte / [EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.gnumonks.org/

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OFF-TOPIC] 4 ports ETH cards

2001-05-30 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Wed, May 30, 2001 at 06:34:16PM -0300, Harald Welte wrote:
 On Tue, May 29, 2001 at 09:52:41AM +0200, Fabbione wrote:
  Hi all,
  sorry for the offtopic msg.
  
  Can someone point me to a 4 ports fast/eth card solution for linux?

 D-Link DFE-570 has a reasonable pricing and is well supported by the 
 tulip driver

Just got three of these suckers and I'm about to order a bunch
more (happy camper)...

  I found some cards based on the DEC 21*4* chips but when
  I asked for more details I got a strange answer from the reseller
  like that this card is able to work only half-duplex and the chip has
  only one mac-address for the 4 eth cards (really strange).

 nah. And even if so, you can always change the mac-address using ifconfig.

Each D-Link card has four MAC addresses (sequential).  I doubt
other manufactures are any different.

 What the guy most likely wanted to say, is that there is only one EEprom
 containing all mac adresses for the four tulip chips, which I have seen
 on multiple boards

What the guy was doing was having a bad case of optical rectitus.
That would be typical of a reseller (AKA Salesman).  Most would not
even have a CLUE that the cards were based on the tulip chipset / driver.

Because the D-Link cards were less than half of the nearest
competitor [  $180 vs  $360 for others and Compac was  $2400! ] I
ordered only three not knowing for sure if they would work.  Turned on
the tulip driver and them suckers fired right up.  Now I know they work,
stock, right out of the box, and I can order a bunch more for the lab
I'm working with.

  Thanks a lot
  Fabbione
 
 -- 
 Live long and prosper
 - Harald Welte / [EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.gnumonks.org/

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Aironet doesn't work

2001-04-30 Thread Michael H. Warfield

Hello,

I'm tunning into this discussion a little late, but...

On Mon, Apr 30, 2001 at 01:22:59PM -0700, Francois Gouget wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Apr 2001, Jeff Garzik wrote:

> > Francois Gouget wrote:
> > > CONFIG_PCMCIA=y
> > > CONFIG_CARDBUS=y
> > > CONFIG_I82365=y
> > 
> > Not correct -- you do not need I82365 if you have CardBus.  However, if
> > you are running 2.4.4 you should be ok.

>Ok. I upgraded to 2.4.4 and modified my config file to be:

> CONFIG_PCMCIA=y
> CONFIG_CARDBUS=y
> # CONFIG_I82365 is not set

>But now I get the same missing symbols I initially had in 2.4.3:

> Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: initializing socket 0
> Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: socket 0: Aironet PC4800
> Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: executing: 'modprobe aironet4500_core'
> Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: + Warning: 
>/lib/modules/2.4.4/kernel/drivers/net/aironet4500_core.o 
> symbol for parameter rx_queue_len not found
> Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: executing: 'modprobe aironet4500_proc'
> Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: executing: 'modprobe aironet4500_cs'
> Apr 30 13:19:35 oleron cardmgr[148]: get dev info on socket 0
> failed: Resource temporarily unavailable

Seen this before.  What version are your modutils at?  Latest are
2.4.5 on kernel.org and there have been several times where I've had
them slip out of rev and ended up with missing symbols.

> --
> Francois Gouget [EMAIL PROTECTED]    http://fgouget.free.fr/
> 1 + e ^ ( i * pi ) = 0

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Aironet doesn't work

2001-04-30 Thread Michael H. Warfield

Hello,

I'm tunning into this discussion a little late, but...

On Mon, Apr 30, 2001 at 01:22:59PM -0700, Francois Gouget wrote:
 On Mon, 30 Apr 2001, Jeff Garzik wrote:

  Francois Gouget wrote:
   CONFIG_PCMCIA=y
   CONFIG_CARDBUS=y
   CONFIG_I82365=y
  
  Not correct -- you do not need I82365 if you have CardBus.  However, if
  you are running 2.4.4 you should be ok.

Ok. I upgraded to 2.4.4 and modified my config file to be:

 CONFIG_PCMCIA=y
 CONFIG_CARDBUS=y
 # CONFIG_I82365 is not set

But now I get the same missing symbols I initially had in 2.4.3:

 Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: initializing socket 0
 Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: socket 0: Aironet PC4800
 Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: executing: 'modprobe aironet4500_core'
 Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: + Warning: 
/lib/modules/2.4.4/kernel/drivers/net/aironet4500_core.o 
 symbol for parameter rx_queue_len not found
 Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: executing: 'modprobe aironet4500_proc'
 Apr 30 13:19:34 oleron cardmgr[148]: executing: 'modprobe aironet4500_cs'
 Apr 30 13:19:35 oleron cardmgr[148]: get dev info on socket 0
 failed: Resource temporarily unavailable

Seen this before.  What version are your modutils at?  Latest are
2.4.5 on kernel.org and there have been several times where I've had
them slip out of rev and ended up with missing symbols.

 --
 Francois Gouget [EMAIL PROTECTED]http://fgouget.free.fr/
 1 + e ^ ( i * pi ) = 0

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux Worm (fwd)

2001-03-23 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Mar 23, 2001 at 10:31:49AM -0800, Gerhard Mack wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, Bob Lorenzini wrote:

> > I'm annoyed when persons post virus alerts to unrelated lists but this
> > is a serious threat. If your offended flame away.

> This should be a wake up call... distributions need to stop using product
> with consistently bad security records. 

Bullshit.

This is a wake up call that admins need to keep installations up
to date.  When a security hole is found, I DON'T CARE if it's in a package
with a good security record or a poor security record.  It has to be
fixed and you can't put it off.  Certainly not in the current climate
with script driven worms like Ramen and 1i0n.

Having a poor security record is a warning to the developers that
it's time to clean up their act and do better.  Sendmail use to be the
bug of the month club.  Hell!  It use to be the bug of the week club.  Last
couple of years, it's been pretty solid.  If you only went on security
track record, we would all be using MMDF, which is still arguibly the most
secure mail transport around.  MMDF has had what?  One advisory in something
like 15 years of deployment?  It was the default MTA in SCO Unix for
years and was mandated at military installations for a long time...  Still,
when that one advisory comes out, you better update or you are toast.

You don't solely rely on packages that have "good security records"
never getting broken and then become complacent.  Sites that do that are
what we call "Warez" sites.  :-/


>   Gerhard

> --
> Gerhard Mack

> [EMAIL PROTECTED]

> <>< As a computer I find your faith in technology amusing.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux Worm (fwd)

2001-03-23 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Mar 23, 2001 at 10:31:49AM -0800, Gerhard Mack wrote:
 On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, Bob Lorenzini wrote:

  I'm annoyed when persons post virus alerts to unrelated lists but this
  is a serious threat. If your offended flame away.

 This should be a wake up call... distributions need to stop using product
 with consistently bad security records. 

Bullshit.

This is a wake up call that admins need to keep installations up
to date.  When a security hole is found, I DON'T CARE if it's in a package
with a good security record or a poor security record.  It has to be
fixed and you can't put it off.  Certainly not in the current climate
with script driven worms like Ramen and 1i0n.

Having a poor security record is a warning to the developers that
it's time to clean up their act and do better.  Sendmail use to be the
bug of the month club.  Hell!  It use to be the bug of the week club.  Last
couple of years, it's been pretty solid.  If you only went on security
track record, we would all be using MMDF, which is still arguibly the most
secure mail transport around.  MMDF has had what?  One advisory in something
like 15 years of deployment?  It was the default MTA in SCO Unix for
years and was mandated at military installations for a long time...  Still,
when that one advisory comes out, you better update or you are toast.

You don't solely rely on packages that have "good security records"
never getting broken and then become complacent.  Sites that do that are
what we call "Warez" sites.  :-/


   Gerhard

 --
 Gerhard Mack

 [EMAIL PROTECTED]

  As a computer I find your faith in technology amusing.

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-18 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Feb 18, 2001 at 12:00:03PM -0600, Gregory S. Youngblood wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Feb 2001, Michael H. Warfield wrote:

> > On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 09:15:08PM -0800, Ben Ford wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On the other hand, they make excellent mice.  The mouse wheel and
> > > > the new optical mice are truly innovative and Microsoft should be
> > > > commended for them.
> > > >
> > > The wheel was a nifty idea, but I've seen workstations 15 years old with
> > > optical mice.  It wasn't MS's idea.

> > I think their "innovation" was not requiring the optical cross
> > grid mouse pad common on Sun workstations over the years.  The Microsoft
> > optical mouse uses variations in the surface characteristics of whatever
> > it's on to perform it's function.  The old optical mice just used two
> > different colors of LED's (red and IR) and a special pad.  This would
> > actually have to scan and track the surface below it.  Don't know that
> > I've seen anyone do that before.

> I remember being at a computer show in Minneapolis where a small company
> was showing off this mouse that worked on a variety of surfaces without a
> ball. I'm trying to remember if the mouse was optical or used yet another
> method of functioning -- I think it was optical, though I could be
> mistaken. This was in 1992/1993.

I think you are correct here.  I seem to recall mention of some
of those earlier devices at the time of the Microsoft announcement.  I
seem to also recall some of the reliability problem they had.  I believe
they were extremely fussy about the surface they were on.

> The point is, I really do not believe Microsoft made the "leap" to provide
> opitcal mice without the need of the mousepad grid. Their "innovation" was
> in marketing it on a wide scale though.

I would agree there.  They did something to improve the reliability
on a wider variety of surface textures, though.  Is that innovation or
merely getting a good idea, that's been around, to finally work?  Don't
know.  I didn't find the idea itself particularly innovative.  The fact
that they did get it to work reliable is something to be said.

The marketing is a given, of course.  Particularly in the face
of the preception in some camps that this style of optical mouse was
unreliable.

> I could be mistaken - if so then let's give them their credit - but I have
> a hard time believing it was their idea without some serious proof.

Agreed.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-18 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 09:15:08PM -0800, Ben Ford wrote:
> > 
> > On the other hand, they make excellent mice.  The mouse wheel and
> > the new optical mice are truly innovative and Microsoft should be
> > commended for them. 
> > 
> The wheel was a nifty idea, but I've seen workstations 15 years old with 
> optical mice.  It wasn't MS's idea.

I think their "innovation" was not requiring the optical cross
grid mouse pad common on Sun workstations over the years.  The Microsoft
optical mouse uses variations in the surface characteristics of whatever
it's on to perform it's function.  The old optical mice just used two
different colors of LED's (red and IR) and a special pad.  This would
actually have to scan and track the surface below it.  Don't know that
I've seen anyone do that before.

> -b

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-18 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Feb 18, 2001 at 12:00:03PM -0600, Gregory S. Youngblood wrote:
 On Sun, 18 Feb 2001, Michael H. Warfield wrote:

  On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 09:15:08PM -0800, Ben Ford wrote:
   
On the other hand, they make excellent mice.  The mouse wheel and
the new optical mice are truly innovative and Microsoft should be
commended for them.
   
   The wheel was a nifty idea, but I've seen workstations 15 years old with
   optical mice.  It wasn't MS's idea.

  I think their "innovation" was not requiring the optical cross
  grid mouse pad common on Sun workstations over the years.  The Microsoft
  optical mouse uses variations in the surface characteristics of whatever
  it's on to perform it's function.  The old optical mice just used two
  different colors of LED's (red and IR) and a special pad.  This would
  actually have to scan and track the surface below it.  Don't know that
  I've seen anyone do that before.

 I remember being at a computer show in Minneapolis where a small company
 was showing off this mouse that worked on a variety of surfaces without a
 ball. I'm trying to remember if the mouse was optical or used yet another
 method of functioning -- I think it was optical, though I could be
 mistaken. This was in 1992/1993.

I think you are correct here.  I seem to recall mention of some
of those earlier devices at the time of the Microsoft announcement.  I
seem to also recall some of the reliability problem they had.  I believe
they were extremely fussy about the surface they were on.

 The point is, I really do not believe Microsoft made the "leap" to provide
 opitcal mice without the need of the mousepad grid. Their "innovation" was
 in marketing it on a wide scale though.

I would agree there.  They did something to improve the reliability
on a wider variety of surface textures, though.  Is that innovation or
merely getting a good idea, that's been around, to finally work?  Don't
know.  I didn't find the idea itself particularly innovative.  The fact
that they did get it to work reliable is something to be said.

The marketing is a given, of course.  Particularly in the face
of the preception in some camps that this style of optical mouse was
unreliable.

 I could be mistaken - if so then let's give them their credit - but I have
 a hard time believing it was their idea without some serious proof.

    Agreed.

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 02:38:19PM -0800, Andre Hedrick wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Feb 2001, Dennis wrote:
> > good commercial drivers dont need fixing. another point. You are arguing 
> > that having source is required to fix crappy code, which i agree with.

> > You "guys" like to have source, and there is nothing wrong with that. But 
> > requiring that all code be distributed as source DOES stifle innovation. 
> > Its as simple as that.

> And when your customer gets screw because you refuse to update your binary
> driver because you do not know or have had the chance to follow any
> evolving API, you are going to blame us in OPEN source, right.

At our office, we actually had a sysadmin suggest that the reason
we had problems with viruses propagating was because they couldn't put
everyone on Exchange (some of us use Unix/Linux) and that was causing the
problems.  Of course...  Operating systems which are immune to these things
are to blame for the epidemics on the ones that are suceptible.  That
makes sense.  G  Of course the availablity of quality drivers with
sources are the reason for crappy closed source drivers...  I can see his
reasoning (isn't that scary).  <;-/=/

Actually, it does make a perverted sort of sense.  If we didn't
have systems that didn't have these problems, nobody would think that
there was anything wrong.  They would just think that "of course, this
is what you expect from suppliers".  They would have no yardstick to
measure against, so rebooting a computer once a day or having a blue
screen would just be part of the normal experience.  So we DO contribute
to his problems!  We provide a standard which he can not live up to or
even pursue given the manpower and talent he may have (or not have).
How is he suppose to innovate when the Open Source community is setting
such a high standard for him?  :->=>

> Meanwhile the API changes may have boosted the performance factor and you
> have screw yourself and customer base because you are to lame to see the
> value of open source.
> 
> Some time ago I proposed CLAPI, and you are one of the venders that would 
> benefit from such a beast.  This model would have required you to LGPL a
> kernel library that would have all the functional IP (that is not IP) that
> is to lame to be placed into the hardware.  If your hardware is so flakey
> that you have to pump/prime it for operationswellyou get the
> point.
> 
> If I recall you and your company on one of the worst offenders of taking
> code (GPL or not) and changing it and putting it out as binaries.  I am
> surprized that you have not been taken down yet.  Then if someone asks for
> the return of the code base and changes because they can under the terms
> of the license that you removed from that code, you charge them a fee and
> suggest actionable terms if any disclosure into the public form from
> where it came.

Well...  Yeah...  Of course, Andre.  Can you see how that stiffles
his innovation.

> Regards,

Later!

> Andre Hedrick
> Linux ATA Development

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation... [way O.T.]

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 02:56:15PM -0500, Dennis wrote:
> At 05:59 PM 02/16/2001, John Cavan wrote:
> >Dennis wrote:
> > > objective, arent we?
> >
> >You might ask yourself the same question...

> > > For example, if there were six different companies that marketed ethernet
> > > drivers for the eepro100, you'd have a choice of which one to buy..perhaps
> > > with different "features" that were of value to you. Instead, you have
> > > crappy GPL code that locks up under load, and its not worth spending
> > > corporate dollars to fix it because you have to give away your work for
> > > free under GPL. And since there is a "free" driver that most people can
> > > use, its not worth building a better mousetrap either because the market is
> > > too small. So, the handful of users with problems get to "fit it
> > > themselves", most of whom cant of course.

> >A large bulk of the investment in Linux is starting to come in from
> >hardware manufacturers, notably IBM. These companies see Linux as a
> >means to sell more hardware, not as a means to sell software. This is
> >critical, because it means that it IS worth the money to make the driver
> >perform correctly, GPL or not, because a bad driver means no sales.


> Thats wrong. The eepro100 is a great example. It works for most people, so 
> the market for an improved one is very limited. Your market is not the 
> whole community, only the community that needs something better. IBM will 
> simply blame linux if it cant handle a situation. They arent supporting 
> linux, they are only taking advantage of the fact that people want it.

Excuse me?  A 1 billion dolar investment in Linux is not supporting
it?  Setting up tier 1 and tier 2 support services for a half a dozen
distributions is not supporting it?  Porting their AIX file systems and
applications is not supporting it?  Porting it to the 390 is not supporting
it?  You bet'cha they are taking advantage of the fact that people want it.
They would be damn fools in business if they didn't take advantage of that.
And that means supporting it.  It's to their advantage to support it and
they see it.  You must have a really bizzare idea of what support means...

> BSDI is distributing FreeBSD now. They havent done anything useful to 
> support it. They are just cashing in on it.

And your point is???

> DB

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 03:08:48PM -0500, Dennis wrote:
> At 07:10 PM 02/16/2001, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >Dennis wrote:
> >...
> > > objective, arent we?
> >Nope. Are you claiming to be?
> >
> > > For example, if there were six different companies that marketed ethernet
> > > drivers for the eepro100, you'd have a choice of which one to buy..perhaps
> >... Rant deleted
> >
> >I had a problem with eepro100.
> >It was fixed same night cause I had the source.
> >Don't even try to compare with MickyS**t.


> good commercial drivers dont need fixing. another point. You are arguing 
> that having source is required to fix crappy code, which i agree with.

Then good commercial drivers == blivit.

Ain't no such critter.  They are always late and buggy and then
take forever to get fixed.  Nature of the close source development cycle
with deadlines and project managers that say "we can afford to wait any
longer, we have to ship it now and fix the bugs after release".

> You "guys" like to have source, and there is nothing wrong with that. But 
> requiring that all code be distributed as source DOES stifle innovation. 
> Its as simple as that.

Sorry but it's time to pull it out, smell the air, and buy a clue.
There are people out there right now delivering binary modules and binary
pieces for device drivers in the kernel.  I'm working with one right now.
They are providing partial sources with a binary library (this is the
Lucent WaveLan wvlan2_cs drivers).  Nothing is required.  But binary drivers
don't get the support from the open source people that the open source
drivers get.  Sounds reasonable to me.  There are other binary only drivers
(to say nothing of applications) both freeware and payware out there.  I've
got people working on some myself.  So your arguement that "requiring that
all code be distributed as source DOES stifle innovation" fails on it's
premise because it's NOT REQUIRED.  Just don't expect us to kiss your merry
ass and fall over backwards meeting your demands when you DO deliver a
binary only driver.  If people like it, fine.  If they don't, whose problem
is that?  The idea that nobody will pay for OpenSource software is a myth.
I buy software for Linux all the time.  I buy closed source software and
I buy open source software.  The only difference is the presence of the
sources.  So what.  Tell me how that makes those products less innovative?

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield
ggest thing that the linux community does to stifle innovation is to
> > > bash commercial vendors trying to make a profit by whining endlessly about
> > > "sourceless" distributions and recommending "open-source" solutions even
> > > when they are wholly inferior. You're only hurting yourselves in the long
> > > run. In that respect MS is correct, because those with the dollars to
> > > innovate will stay away.
> >
> >You claim that "open source solutions are wholely inferior to closed
> >source solutions".
> >
> >H...
> >
> >Then why does everyone run with Apache instead of IIS?  Could it be that
> >IIS is a piece of crap?
> >
> >Feature for feature I would rather use PHP 4 over ColdFusion any day.
> >
> >Sendmail is MUCH more stable than Exchange.  (Even if it has config files
> >that look like they were designed by Carlos Castanada on a bad day.) If
> >not Sendmail, there are a couple of other Open Source mail programs that
> >are much superior in quality than the closed source counterparts.
> >
> >As for the Linux kernel being "shoddy"...
> >
> >Since when?
> >
> >I can leave my Linux box running over night and actually have it do
> >things!  I cannot say the same for Windows.  I leave that running (same
> >hardware, different OS) and it is usually dead by dawn.
> >
> >But your argument is even more bogus than that.
> >
> >It seems that you argument boils down to a couple of thing...
> >
> >"Closed source is better because you pay money for it."
> >
> >"Closed source is superior because we have a company name and you don't."
> >
> >Sorry, but most of the people who develop Open Source are profesional
> >programmers.  They just have a different motivation.
> >
> >Open Source is motivated by pride in what you can do and a desire to help
> >others by sharing that. They don't hide behind a wall of lawyers to keep
> >people from finding out what they did wrong.
> >
> >I found out a long time ago that most "Trade Secret" claims were bogus.
> >It was either a common technique that had been adapted to a particular
> >purpose or it was being used as an excuse to hide how bad the code really
> >was.
> >
> >But my experiences with Open Source, as well as the others I know who use
> >it are quite telling.
> >
> >If I have a problem with an Open Source program I can look at the code and
> >fix it.  Or I can report the bug and it will get fixed soon after. The
> >programmers involved put the effort into it because their name is
> >attached.
> >
> >My experiences with closed source companies are not as good.
> >
> >In many cases, I was ignored because I did not represent a fortune 500
> >company.  If the problem got fixed at all, it would be months before I saw
> >it and usually in a later release that I would have to pay for.  (Usually
> >having features added that I neither wanted or would ever use.)  In some
> >cases (like Microsoft security bugs) it would be treated like a public
> >relations problem instead of a software and quality issue.
> >
> >I have also seen cases where problems were buried in development because
> >"no one will find out and if they do, we will just blame Microsoft".
> >
> >I understand your desire to make money off what you do for a living. I do
> >object to you taring what I do as somehow damaging to the software
> >industry as a whole.  (Especially since the closed source software
> >industry has been poaching off the open source community for years.
> >Microsoft seeking enlightenment with WinXP is only a minor example.)
> >
> >I don't see how hiding how something works adds value to the process.
> >
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED] | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply
> >Alan Olsen| to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys.
> > "In the future, everything will have its 15 minutes of blame."
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield
ate will stay away.
 
 You claim that "open source solutions are wholely inferior to closed
 source solutions".
 
 H...
 
 Then why does everyone run with Apache instead of IIS?  Could it be that
 IIS is a piece of crap?
 
 Feature for feature I would rather use PHP 4 over ColdFusion any day.
 
 Sendmail is MUCH more stable than Exchange.  (Even if it has config files
 that look like they were designed by Carlos Castanada on a bad day.) If
 not Sendmail, there are a couple of other Open Source mail programs that
 are much superior in quality than the closed source counterparts.
 
 As for the Linux kernel being "shoddy"...
 
 Since when?
 
 I can leave my Linux box running over night and actually have it do
 things!  I cannot say the same for Windows.  I leave that running (same
 hardware, different OS) and it is usually dead by dawn.
 
 But your argument is even more bogus than that.
 
 It seems that you argument boils down to a couple of thing...
 
 "Closed source is better because you pay money for it."
 
 "Closed source is superior because we have a company name and you don't."
 
 Sorry, but most of the people who develop Open Source are profesional
 programmers.  They just have a different motivation.
 
 Open Source is motivated by pride in what you can do and a desire to help
 others by sharing that. They don't hide behind a wall of lawyers to keep
 people from finding out what they did wrong.
 
 I found out a long time ago that most "Trade Secret" claims were bogus.
 It was either a common technique that had been adapted to a particular
 purpose or it was being used as an excuse to hide how bad the code really
 was.
 
 But my experiences with Open Source, as well as the others I know who use
 it are quite telling.
 
 If I have a problem with an Open Source program I can look at the code and
 fix it.  Or I can report the bug and it will get fixed soon after. The
 programmers involved put the effort into it because their name is
 attached.
 
 My experiences with closed source companies are not as good.
 
 In many cases, I was ignored because I did not represent a fortune 500
 company.  If the problem got fixed at all, it would be months before I saw
 it and usually in a later release that I would have to pay for.  (Usually
 having features added that I neither wanted or would ever use.)  In some
 cases (like Microsoft security bugs) it would be treated like a public
 relations problem instead of a software and quality issue.
 
 I have also seen cases where problems were buried in development because
 "no one will find out and if they do, we will just blame Microsoft".
 
 I understand your desire to make money off what you do for a living. I do
 object to you taring what I do as somehow damaging to the software
 industry as a whole.  (Especially since the closed source software
 industry has been poaching off the open source community for years.
 Microsoft seeking enlightenment with WinXP is only a minor example.)
 
 I don't see how hiding how something works adds value to the process.
 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply
 Alan Olsen| to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys.
  "In the future, everything will have its 15 minutes of blame."
 
 -
 To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
 the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
 Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 03:08:48PM -0500, Dennis wrote:
 At 07:10 PM 02/16/2001, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 Dennis wrote:
 ...
   objective, arent we?
 Nope. Are you claiming to be?
 
   For example, if there were six different companies that marketed ethernet
   drivers for the eepro100, you'd have a choice of which one to buy..perhaps
 ... Rant deleted
 
 I had a problem with eepro100.
 It was fixed same night cause I had the source.
 Don't even try to compare with MickyS**t.


 good commercial drivers dont need fixing. another point. You are arguing 
 that having source is required to fix crappy code, which i agree with.

Then good commercial drivers == blivit.

Ain't no such critter.  They are always late and buggy and then
take forever to get fixed.  Nature of the close source development cycle
with deadlines and project managers that say "we can afford to wait any
longer, we have to ship it now and fix the bugs after release".

 You "guys" like to have source, and there is nothing wrong with that. But 
 requiring that all code be distributed as source DOES stifle innovation. 
 Its as simple as that.

Sorry but it's time to pull it out, smell the air, and buy a clue.
There are people out there right now delivering binary modules and binary
pieces for device drivers in the kernel.  I'm working with one right now.
They are providing partial sources with a binary library (this is the
Lucent WaveLan wvlan2_cs drivers).  Nothing is required.  But binary drivers
don't get the support from the open source people that the open source
drivers get.  Sounds reasonable to me.  There are other binary only drivers
(to say nothing of applications) both freeware and payware out there.  I've
got people working on some myself.  So your arguement that "requiring that
all code be distributed as source DOES stifle innovation" fails on it's
premise because it's NOT REQUIRED.  Just don't expect us to kiss your merry
ass and fall over backwards meeting your demands when you DO deliver a
binary only driver.  If people like it, fine.  If they don't, whose problem
is that?  The idea that nobody will pay for OpenSource software is a myth.
I buy software for Linux all the time.  I buy closed source software and
I buy open source software.  The only difference is the presence of the
sources.  So what.  Tell me how that makes those products less innovative?

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation... [way O.T.]

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 02:56:15PM -0500, Dennis wrote:
 At 05:59 PM 02/16/2001, John Cavan wrote:
 Dennis wrote:
   objective, arent we?
 
 You might ask yourself the same question...

   For example, if there were six different companies that marketed ethernet
   drivers for the eepro100, you'd have a choice of which one to buy..perhaps
   with different "features" that were of value to you. Instead, you have
   crappy GPL code that locks up under load, and its not worth spending
   corporate dollars to fix it because you have to give away your work for
   free under GPL. And since there is a "free" driver that most people can
   use, its not worth building a better mousetrap either because the market is
   too small. So, the handful of users with problems get to "fit it
   themselves", most of whom cant of course.

 A large bulk of the investment in Linux is starting to come in from
 hardware manufacturers, notably IBM. These companies see Linux as a
 means to sell more hardware, not as a means to sell software. This is
 critical, because it means that it IS worth the money to make the driver
 perform correctly, GPL or not, because a bad driver means no sales.


 Thats wrong. The eepro100 is a great example. It works for most people, so 
 the market for an improved one is very limited. Your market is not the 
 whole community, only the community that needs something better. IBM will 
 simply blame linux if it cant handle a situation. They arent supporting 
 linux, they are only taking advantage of the fact that people want it.

Excuse me?  A 1 billion dolar investment in Linux is not supporting
it?  Setting up tier 1 and tier 2 support services for a half a dozen
distributions is not supporting it?  Porting their AIX file systems and
applications is not supporting it?  Porting it to the 390 is not supporting
it?  You bet'cha they are taking advantage of the fact that people want it.
They would be damn fools in business if they didn't take advantage of that.
And that means supporting it.  It's to their advantage to support it and
they see it.  You must have a really bizzare idea of what support means...

 BSDI is distributing FreeBSD now. They havent done anything useful to 
 support it. They are just cashing in on it.

And your point is???

 DB

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-17 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 02:38:19PM -0800, Andre Hedrick wrote:
 On Sat, 17 Feb 2001, Dennis wrote:
  good commercial drivers dont need fixing. another point. You are arguing 
  that having source is required to fix crappy code, which i agree with.

  You "guys" like to have source, and there is nothing wrong with that. But 
  requiring that all code be distributed as source DOES stifle innovation. 
  Its as simple as that.

 And when your customer gets screw because you refuse to update your binary
 driver because you do not know or have had the chance to follow any
 evolving API, you are going to blame us in OPEN source, right.

At our office, we actually had a sysadmin suggest that the reason
we had problems with viruses propagating was because they couldn't put
everyone on Exchange (some of us use Unix/Linux) and that was causing the
problems.  Of course...  Operating systems which are immune to these things
are to blame for the epidemics on the ones that are suceptible.  That
makes sense.  G  Of course the availablity of quality drivers with
sources are the reason for crappy closed source drivers...  I can see his
reasoning (isn't that scary).  ;-/=/

Actually, it does make a perverted sort of sense.  If we didn't
have systems that didn't have these problems, nobody would think that
there was anything wrong.  They would just think that "of course, this
is what you expect from suppliers".  They would have no yardstick to
measure against, so rebooting a computer once a day or having a blue
screen would just be part of the normal experience.  So we DO contribute
to his problems!  We provide a standard which he can not live up to or
even pursue given the manpower and talent he may have (or not have).
How is he suppose to innovate when the Open Source community is setting
such a high standard for him?  :-=

 Meanwhile the API changes may have boosted the performance factor and you
 have screw yourself and customer base because you are to lame to see the
 value of open source.
 
 Some time ago I proposed CLAPI, and you are one of the venders that would 
 benefit from such a beast.  This model would have required you to LGPL a
 kernel library that would have all the functional IP (that is not IP) that
 is to lame to be placed into the hardware.  If your hardware is so flakey
 that you have to pump/prime it for operationswellyou get the
 point.
 
 If I recall you and your company on one of the worst offenders of taking
 code (GPL or not) and changing it and putting it out as binaries.  I am
 surprized that you have not been taken down yet.  Then if someone asks for
 the return of the code base and changes because they can under the terms
 of the license that you removed from that code, you charge them a fee and
 suggest actionable terms if any disclosure into the public form from
 where it came.

Well...  Yeah...  Of course, Andre.  Can you see how that stiffles
his innovation.

 Regards,

Later!

 Andre Hedrick
 Linux ATA Development

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux stifles innovation...

2001-02-16 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Feb 16, 2001 at 04:35:02PM -0800, Dan Hollis wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Feb 2001, Carlos Fernandez Sanz wrote:
> > I did some research on the patent database and found nothing regarding such
> > a patent. There's patent on word processors (not the concept but related to)
> > and uses tab on the description...and that patent is from 1980.

> You know XOR is patented (yes, the logical bit operation XOR).

But wasn't that Xerox that had that?  Yeah, the same ones that
screwed us over with the compression patent that shot .gif images out
of the sky.  There was inovation for you.

> -Dan

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 01:50:04AM +, Aaron Denney wrote:
> Michael H. Warfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > But, wait a minute.  CNAME -> CNAME is a "must not".

> Cite the RFC please.  1034 says

> # Domain names in RRs which point at another name should always point at
> # the primary name and not the alias.
> and 
> # domain software should not fail when presented with CNAME
> # chains or loops; CNAME chains should be followed and CNAME loops
> # signalled as an error.
> and
> #- The answer to the query, possibly preface by one or more CNAME
> #  RRs that specify aliases encountered on the way to an answer.
> and
> # Multiple levels of
> # aliases should be avoided due to their lack of efficiency, but should
> # not be signalled as an error.

> It's fairly clear that CNAMEs to CNAMEs are discouraged, but legal.

Hmmm...  Looks like I have had that just about backwards (par for
the course).  RFC 1912 (Common DNS Errors) makes it pretty clear that
other RRs should not point at CNAMEs and that would include CNAMEs
pointing at CNAMEs.  It quotes your same section, 3.6.2, of rfc 1034
for justifying that.

]   Don't use CNAMEs in combination with RRs which point to other names
]   like MX, CNAME, PTR and NS.  (PTR is an exception if you want to
]   implement classless in-addr delegation.)  For example, this is
]   strongly discouraged:
]
]   podunk.xx.  IN  MX  mailhost
]   mailhostIN  CNAME   mary
]   maryIN  A   1.2.3.4
]
]   [RFC 1034] in section 3.6.2 says this should not be done, and [RFC
]   974] explicitly states that MX records shall not point to an alias
]   defined by a CNAME.  This results in unnecessary indirection in
]   accessing the data, and DNS resolvers and servers need to work more
]   to get the answer.  If you really want to do this, you can accomplish
]   the same thing by using a preprocessor such as m4 on your host files.

That pretty explicity states that MX records should not (and,
according to RFC 974, must not) point to CNAMES.

]   Also, having chained records such as CNAMEs pointing to CNAMEs may
]   make administration issues easier, but is known to tickle bugs in
]   some resolvers that fail to check loops correctly.  As a result some
]   hosts may not be able to resolve such names.

That's a pretty strong recommendation to NOT point CNAMEs to
CNAMEs.  It's not a "must not", but it points out a seeming ambiguity in
RFC 1034.  The very passage you quote:

> # Domain names in RRs which point at another name should always point at
> # the primary name and not the alias.

Doesn't that say that a domain name in a RR should always point
at the primary name.  Doesn't that imply (and thus semi contradict the
rest of that section about loops) that CNAMEs should not point to CNAMEs?

That would appear to make rfc 1034 look ambiguous.  Section
3.6.2 says that RRs should always point to primary names but then
goes on to discuss CNAME loops and states that multiple levels of
aliases should not be signaled as an error.

But then we are down to semantics and the semantics of the RFCs
are defined.  Should and should not are recommendations, not requirements.
Must and must not are requirements.  On that point, I must cede the field
and admit that both CNAME -> MX and CNAME -> CNAME would appear to fall
under the former and not the later.  But MX -> CNAME would appear to be
explicitly prohibited under RFC 974.

> -- 
> Aaron Denney
> -><-
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 04:11:39PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> "Michael H. Warfield" wrote:
> > 
> > > Please explain how there is any different between an CNAME or MX pointing
> > > to an A record in a different SOA versus an MX pointing to a CNAME
> > > pointing to an A record where at least one pair is local (same SOA).
> > 
> > Ah!  But now you are placing conditions on it (that at least one
> > pair is local).  That is the very fine distinction that makes up the
> > "not quite" in the "almost" above and the difference between the "should
> > not" vs the "must not" in the specifications.  You basically can't qualify
> > it by saying "you can do this, but only if one pair is in the same SOA".


> No.  My point is that potential for inefficiency is not a valid reason
> for banning something outright.  This should be an administrative
> decision, nothing more.

But, wait a minute.  CNAME -> CNAME is a "must not".  MX -> CNAME
is a "should not".  The "should not" leaves it to be implimentation
dependent and not an outright ban.  Sooo...

I personally have no problem with Bind 9.x prohibiting an
MX -> CNAME, but that's an implimentation issue.

In case people have tuned in late, there have been some rather
radical swings in Bind policy since Bind 4.x.

Bind 8.x decided to ENFORCE (with a vengence) the character set
policies dictated by RFC.  This was (so they claimed) to protect poorly
coded programs that were prone to blowing chunks and doing Chernobyl
imitations on getting illegal characters in host names.  Of course that
also caused zones with underscores in names (more common than what you
would think) to crap all over themselves when unsuspecting (i.e. failure
to read warnings) admins upgraded.

Bind 9.0 went back to the old 4.9 policy on characters (allow
what can be entered and poorly coded programs are on their own) but started
enforcing a requirement for a TTL directive and making the SOA TTL field
the true minimum TTL that it was defined as (instead of a default like
Bind 8 and 4 and previous used it as).  I figured I was all set, since I,
of course, had upgraded all MY zone files already.  Imagine my surprise
when 9.0 would not even load because OVER HALF of the 200+ zones I'm
responsible for or host did NOT have the $TTL directive!  It was assholes
and elbows for a not so brief but really intense time while I updated those
$@$%#@ zone files!

You don't like the Bind enforcement of the DNS policy, bitch to
the ISC bunch.  They can be swayed (all too often, it appears).  If enough
DNS administrators really want to go against the "should not", maybe
they will make it configurable (Actually, I didn't think it really outright
prohibited it in the first place, but...  Oh well...)  There are lots
of other things in the DNS that need to be killed DEAD with a stake
through the heart like CNAME with other data (what is THAT suppose to
mean).  I run into lookups on sites with CNAMES and A records for a host!
I suppose one can come up with a hierachial reason for doing such
byzantine things, but do you REALLY want to?  In applying the KISS
principle (admitedly an oxymoron when it comes to DNS) I can see some
people wanting to ban MX -> CNAME in general if, for no other reason,
than to insure that you will do it only if you have really STRONG
reasons for doing it.

>   -hpa

> -- 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> at work, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in private!
> "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
> http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 04:01:30PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:

> > > Wouldn't that be true for any CNAME anyway?

> > That's the point...

> > In other words, you do a lookup, you start with a primary lookup
> > and then possibly a second lookup to resolve an MX or CNAME.  It's only
> > the MX that points to a CNAME that results in yet another lookup.  An
> > MX pointing to a CNAME is almost (almost, but not quite) as bad as a
> > CNAME pointing to a CNAME.


> There is no reducibility problem for MX -> CNAME, unlike the CNAME ->
> CNAME case.

> Please explain how there is any different between an CNAME or MX pointing
> to an A record in a different SOA versus an MX pointing to a CNAME
> pointing to an A record where at least one pair is local (same SOA).

Ah!  But now you are placing conditions on it (that at least one
pair is local).  That is the very fine distinction that makes up the
"not quite" in the "almost" above and the difference between the "should
not" vs the "must not" in the specifications.  You basically can't qualify
it by saying "you can do this, but only if one pair is in the same SOA".

>   -hpa

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 03:47:17PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> "Michael H. Warfield" wrote:
> > 
> > On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 02:58:30PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> > > Followup to:  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > By author:Gerhard Mack <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> > > >
> > > > Thanklfully bind 9 barfs if you even try this sort of thing.
> > > >
> > 
> > > Personally I find it puzzling what's wrong with MX -> CNAME at all; it
> > > seems like a useful setup without the pitfalls that either NS -> CNAME
> > > or CNAME -> CNAME can cause (NS -> CNAME can trivially result in
> > > irreducible situations; CNAME -> CNAME would require a link maximum
> > > count which could result in obscure breakage.)
> > 
> > It generally forces another DNS lookup.  If you do a resolve on
> > a name of type=ANY it returns any MX records and A records.  If you then
> > do a resolve on the MX records, you then get a CNAME and then have to
> > add an additional lookup for the CNAME.  If you have a lot of MX records
> > and not all the servers are "up" that can add up to a significant
> > increase in DNS traffic.
> > 

> Wouldn't that be true for any CNAME anyway?

That's the point...

In other words, you do a lookup, you start with a primary lookup
and then possibly a second lookup to resolve an MX or CNAME.  It's only
the MX that points to a CNAME that results in yet another lookup.  An
MX pointing to a CNAME is almost (almost, but not quite) as bad as a
CNAME pointing to a CNAME.

>   -hpa

> -- 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> at work, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in private!
> "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
> http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 02:58:30PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Followup to:  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> By author:Gerhard Mack <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> >
> > Thanklfully bind 9 barfs if you even try this sort of thing.
> > 

> Personally I find it puzzling what's wrong with MX -> CNAME at all; it
> seems like a useful setup without the pitfalls that either NS -> CNAME
> or CNAME -> CNAME can cause (NS -> CNAME can trivially result in
> irreducible situations; CNAME -> CNAME would require a link maximum
> count which could result in obscure breakage.)

It generally forces another DNS lookup.  If you do a resolve on
a name of type=ANY it returns any MX records and A records.  If you then
do a resolve on the MX records, you then get a CNAME and then have to
add an additional lookup for the CNAME.  If you have a lot of MX records
and not all the servers are "up" that can add up to a significant
increase in DNS traffic.

>   -hpa
> -- 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> at work, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in private!
> "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
> http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 02:58:30PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
 Followup to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 By author:Gerhard Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
 
  Thanklfully bind 9 barfs if you even try this sort of thing.
  

 Personally I find it puzzling what's wrong with MX - CNAME at all; it
 seems like a useful setup without the pitfalls that either NS - CNAME
 or CNAME - CNAME can cause (NS - CNAME can trivially result in
 irreducible situations; CNAME - CNAME would require a link maximum
 count which could result in obscure breakage.)

It generally forces another DNS lookup.  If you do a resolve on
a name of type=ANY it returns any MX records and A records.  If you then
do a resolve on the MX records, you then get a CNAME and then have to
add an additional lookup for the CNAME.  If you have a lot of MX records
and not all the servers are "up" that can add up to a significant
increase in DNS traffic.

   -hpa
 -- 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] at work, [EMAIL PROTECTED] in private!
 "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
 http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 03:47:17PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
 "Michael H. Warfield" wrote:
  
  On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 02:58:30PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
   Followup to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   By author:Gerhard Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
   
Thanklfully bind 9 barfs if you even try this sort of thing.
   
  
   Personally I find it puzzling what's wrong with MX - CNAME at all; it
   seems like a useful setup without the pitfalls that either NS - CNAME
   or CNAME - CNAME can cause (NS - CNAME can trivially result in
   irreducible situations; CNAME - CNAME would require a link maximum
   count which could result in obscure breakage.)
  
  It generally forces another DNS lookup.  If you do a resolve on
  a name of type=ANY it returns any MX records and A records.  If you then
  do a resolve on the MX records, you then get a CNAME and then have to
  add an additional lookup for the CNAME.  If you have a lot of MX records
  and not all the servers are "up" that can add up to a significant
  increase in DNS traffic.
  

 Wouldn't that be true for any CNAME anyway?

That's the point...

In other words, you do a lookup, you start with a primary lookup
and then possibly a second lookup to resolve an MX or CNAME.  It's only
the MX that points to a CNAME that results in yet another lookup.  An
MX pointing to a CNAME is almost (almost, but not quite) as bad as a
CNAME pointing to a CNAME.

   -hpa

 -- 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] at work, [EMAIL PROTECTED] in private!
 "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
 http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 04:01:30PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:

   Wouldn't that be true for any CNAME anyway?

  That's the point...

  In other words, you do a lookup, you start with a primary lookup
  and then possibly a second lookup to resolve an MX or CNAME.  It's only
  the MX that points to a CNAME that results in yet another lookup.  An
  MX pointing to a CNAME is almost (almost, but not quite) as bad as a
  CNAME pointing to a CNAME.


 There is no reducibility problem for MX - CNAME, unlike the CNAME -
 CNAME case.

 Please explain how there is any different between an CNAME or MX pointing
 to an A record in a different SOA versus an MX pointing to a CNAME
 pointing to an A record where at least one pair is local (same SOA).

Ah!  But now you are placing conditions on it (that at least one
pair is local).  That is the very fine distinction that makes up the
"not quite" in the "almost" above and the difference between the "should
not" vs the "must not" in the specifications.  You basically can't qualify
it by saying "you can do this, but only if one pair is in the same SOA".

   -hpa

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Thu, Feb 08, 2001 at 04:11:39PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
 "Michael H. Warfield" wrote:
  
   Please explain how there is any different between an CNAME or MX pointing
   to an A record in a different SOA versus an MX pointing to a CNAME
   pointing to an A record where at least one pair is local (same SOA).
  
  Ah!  But now you are placing conditions on it (that at least one
  pair is local).  That is the very fine distinction that makes up the
  "not quite" in the "almost" above and the difference between the "should
  not" vs the "must not" in the specifications.  You basically can't qualify
  it by saying "you can do this, but only if one pair is in the same SOA".


 No.  My point is that potential for inefficiency is not a valid reason
 for banning something outright.  This should be an administrative
 decision, nothing more.

But, wait a minute.  CNAME - CNAME is a "must not".  MX - CNAME
is a "should not".  The "should not" leaves it to be implimentation
dependent and not an outright ban.  Sooo...

I personally have no problem with Bind 9.x prohibiting an
MX - CNAME, but that's an implimentation issue.

In case people have tuned in late, there have been some rather
radical swings in Bind policy since Bind 4.x.

Bind 8.x decided to ENFORCE (with a vengence) the character set
policies dictated by RFC.  This was (so they claimed) to protect poorly
coded programs that were prone to blowing chunks and doing Chernobyl
imitations on getting illegal characters in host names.  Of course that
also caused zones with underscores in names (more common than what you
would think) to crap all over themselves when unsuspecting (i.e. failure
to read warnings) admins upgraded.

Bind 9.0 went back to the old 4.9 policy on characters (allow
what can be entered and poorly coded programs are on their own) but started
enforcing a requirement for a TTL directive and making the SOA TTL field
the true minimum TTL that it was defined as (instead of a default like
Bind 8 and 4 and previous used it as).  I figured I was all set, since I,
of course, had upgraded all MY zone files already.  Imagine my surprise
when 9.0 would not even load because OVER HALF of the 200+ zones I'm
responsible for or host did NOT have the $TTL directive!  It was assholes
and elbows for a not so brief but really intense time while I updated those
$@$%#@ zone files!

You don't like the Bind enforcement of the DNS policy, bitch to
the ISC bunch.  They can be swayed (all too often, it appears).  If enough
DNS administrators really want to go against the "should not", maybe
they will make it configurable (Actually, I didn't think it really outright
prohibited it in the first place, but...  Oh well...)  There are lots
of other things in the DNS that need to be killed DEAD with a stake
through the heart like CNAME with other data (what is THAT suppose to
mean).  I run into lookups on sites with CNAMES and A records for a host!
I suppose one can come up with a hierachial reason for doing such
byzantine things, but do you REALLY want to?  In applying the KISS
principle (admitedly an oxymoron when it comes to DNS) I can see some
people wanting to ban MX - CNAME in general if, for no other reason,
than to insure that you will do it only if you have really STRONG
reasons for doing it.

   -hpa

 -- 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] at work, [EMAIL PROTECTED] in private!
 "Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
 http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: DNS goofups galore...

2001-02-08 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 01:50:04AM +, Aaron Denney wrote:
 Michael H. Warfield [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  But, wait a minute.  CNAME - CNAME is a "must not".

 Cite the RFC please.  1034 says

 # Domain names in RRs which point at another name should always point at
 # the primary name and not the alias.
 and 
 # domain software should not fail when presented with CNAME
 # chains or loops; CNAME chains should be followed and CNAME loops
 # signalled as an error.
 and
 #- The answer to the query, possibly preface by one or more CNAME
 #  RRs that specify aliases encountered on the way to an answer.
 and
 # Multiple levels of
 # aliases should be avoided due to their lack of efficiency, but should
 # not be signalled as an error.

 It's fairly clear that CNAMEs to CNAMEs are discouraged, but legal.

Hmmm...  Looks like I have had that just about backwards (par for
the course).  RFC 1912 (Common DNS Errors) makes it pretty clear that
other RRs should not point at CNAMEs and that would include CNAMEs
pointing at CNAMEs.  It quotes your same section, 3.6.2, of rfc 1034
for justifying that.

]   Don't use CNAMEs in combination with RRs which point to other names
]   like MX, CNAME, PTR and NS.  (PTR is an exception if you want to
]   implement classless in-addr delegation.)  For example, this is
]   strongly discouraged:
]
]   podunk.xx.  IN  MX  mailhost
]   mailhostIN  CNAME   mary
]   maryIN  A   1.2.3.4
]
]   [RFC 1034] in section 3.6.2 says this should not be done, and [RFC
]   974] explicitly states that MX records shall not point to an alias
]   defined by a CNAME.  This results in unnecessary indirection in
]   accessing the data, and DNS resolvers and servers need to work more
]   to get the answer.  If you really want to do this, you can accomplish
]   the same thing by using a preprocessor such as m4 on your host files.

That pretty explicity states that MX records should not (and,
according to RFC 974, must not) point to CNAMES.

]   Also, having chained records such as CNAMEs pointing to CNAMEs may
]   make administration issues easier, but is known to tickle bugs in
]   some resolvers that fail to check loops correctly.  As a result some
]   hosts may not be able to resolve such names.

That's a pretty strong recommendation to NOT point CNAMEs to
CNAMEs.  It's not a "must not", but it points out a seeming ambiguity in
RFC 1034.  The very passage you quote:

 # Domain names in RRs which point at another name should always point at
 # the primary name and not the alias.

Doesn't that say that a domain name in a RR should always point
at the primary name.  Doesn't that imply (and thus semi contradict the
rest of that section about loops) that CNAMEs should not point to CNAMEs?

That would appear to make rfc 1034 look ambiguous.  Section
3.6.2 says that RRs should always point to primary names but then
goes on to discuss CNAME loops and states that multiple levels of
aliases should not be signaled as an error.

But then we are down to semantics and the semantics of the RFCs
are defined.  Should and should not are recommendations, not requirements.
Must and must not are requirements.  On that point, I must cede the field
and admit that both CNAME - MX and CNAME - CNAME would appear to fall
under the former and not the later.  But MX - CNAME would appear to be
explicitly prohibited under RFC 974.

 -- 
 Aaron Denney
 --
 -
 To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
 the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Secure Linux

2001-02-03 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jan 30, 2001 at 06:47:18PM +, Dale Amon wrote:
> Has anyone else signed up on the NSA's secure Linux
> discussion list? The idea of NSA backing the development
> of  a secure GPL'd linux is one I find intriguing. 

1) It is not "Secure Linux", it is "Security Enhanced Linux".
It's a proof of concept of adding type enforcement to the Linux kernel
and looks very promising.

> However I have only seen one posting. Is there anyone
> "real" involved with it?

Why not join the selinux mailing list and find out?

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Seems to be a pretty active list.

> -- 
> --
> Use Linux: A computerDale Amon, CEO/MD
> is a terrible thing  Village Networking Ltd
> to waste.Belfast, Northern Ireland
> --
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: ECN: Clearing the air (fwd)

2001-02-03 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 06:02:17PM +, Alan Cox wrote:
> > No. ECN is essential to the continued stability of the Internet. Without
> > probabilistic queuing (i.e. RED) and ECN the Internet will continue to have
> > retransmit synchronization and once congested stay congested until people get
> > frustrated and give it up for a little bit.

> Arguably so. In theory a vindictive probabilistic queueing is sufficient
> (do RED but then drop -every- frame from the same route as the packet chosen
>  from the queue)

THAT actually sounds very similar to what some ATM switches are
doing when congestion results in lost cells in an IP datagram.  Some time
ago, a buddy up at Sandia National Laboratories was explaining the
problem with congestion and IP over ATM.  Once the congestion level
reachs a certain point, the probability of the ATM network dropping a
single cell out of the many cells comprising a complete IP datagram
exceeds unity.  All the transmitted cells, however, are contributing
to the congestion.  The datagram eventually gets retried and adds
even more to the congestion.  Net result is that once you pass this
congestion threshold, IP throughput completely collapses and retries
keep it there until higher layers fail.

The answer for some intelligent ATM switches is to recognize the
higher layer IP traffic and, when dropping an ATM cell in the middle of
an IP datagram, to drop ALL the cells in a datagram if any of the cells
are going to be dropped.  That way the remaining cells are not contributing
to the congestion when the entire IP datagram is going to be retransmitted
anyways.  Purists MIGHT argue that this is a layering violation, but it
would seem to be a good one.  :-/

You could call it vindictive, or maybe congestion with extreme
prejudice...  :-)

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: ECN: Clearing the air (fwd)

2001-02-03 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 06:02:17PM +, Alan Cox wrote:
  No. ECN is essential to the continued stability of the Internet. Without
  probabilistic queuing (i.e. RED) and ECN the Internet will continue to have
  retransmit synchronization and once congested stay congested until people get
  frustrated and give it up for a little bit.

 Arguably so. In theory a vindictive probabilistic queueing is sufficient
 (do RED but then drop -every- frame from the same route as the packet chosen
  from the queue)

THAT actually sounds very similar to what some ATM switches are
doing when congestion results in lost cells in an IP datagram.  Some time
ago, a buddy up at Sandia National Laboratories was explaining the
problem with congestion and IP over ATM.  Once the congestion level
reachs a certain point, the probability of the ATM network dropping a
single cell out of the many cells comprising a complete IP datagram
exceeds unity.  All the transmitted cells, however, are contributing
to the congestion.  The datagram eventually gets retried and adds
even more to the congestion.  Net result is that once you pass this
congestion threshold, IP throughput completely collapses and retries
keep it there until higher layers fail.

The answer for some intelligent ATM switches is to recognize the
higher layer IP traffic and, when dropping an ATM cell in the middle of
an IP datagram, to drop ALL the cells in a datagram if any of the cells
are going to be dropped.  That way the remaining cells are not contributing
to the congestion when the entire IP datagram is going to be retransmitted
anyways.  Purists MIGHT argue that this is a layering violation, but it
would seem to be a good one.  :-/

You could call it vindictive, or maybe congestion with extreme
prejudice...  :-)

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Secure Linux

2001-02-03 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jan 30, 2001 at 06:47:18PM +, Dale Amon wrote:
 Has anyone else signed up on the NSA's secure Linux
 discussion list? The idea of NSA backing the development
 of  a secure GPL'd linux is one I find intriguing. 

1) It is not "Secure Linux", it is "Security Enhanced Linux".
It's a proof of concept of adding type enforcement to the Linux kernel
and looks very promising.

 However I have only seen one posting. Is there anyone
 "real" involved with it?

Why not join the selinux mailing list and find out?

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Seems to be a pretty active list.

 -- 
 --
 Use Linux: A computerDale Amon, CEO/MD
 is a terrible thing  Village Networking Ltd
 to waste.Belfast, Northern Ireland
 --
 -
 To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
 the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Ok, someone is trying to be funny

2001-02-02 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Feb 02, 2001 at 03:36:46PM -0800, David S. Miller wrote:

> Ok, it seems somebody is running a cron script or similar
> to keep resubscribing that [EMAIL PROTECTED] address
> to linux-kernel.

So block them using the /etc/mail/access database for sendmail
and do it with a "451" error code.  The data will back up on their
mail server and start clogging their mail spool till they get a clue.
(Ok...  5 day expiration on the messages, but ITMT, they get several
warning and error messages from each too).

> So if you see the "moderation" message back from a posting
> you make to linux-kernel, please dont' report it to us here
> at vger.kernel.org, we know about it.

> Later,
> David S. Miller
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Ok, someone is trying to be funny

2001-02-02 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Feb 02, 2001 at 03:36:46PM -0800, David S. Miller wrote:

 Ok, it seems somebody is running a cron script or similar
 to keep resubscribing that [EMAIL PROTECTED] address
 to linux-kernel.

So block them using the /etc/mail/access database for sendmail
and do it with a "451" error code.  The data will back up on their
mail server and start clogging their mail spool till they get a clue.
(Ok...  5 day expiration on the messages, but ITMT, they get several
warning and error messages from each too).

 So if you see the "moderation" message back from a posting
 you make to linux-kernel, please dont' report it to us here
 at vger.kernel.org, we know about it.

 Later,
 David S. Miller
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux-2.4.1-pre11

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

Damn...  So much for typing too fast...  Screwed it up...

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 07:59:47PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 04:55:51PM -0800, David D.W. Downey wrote:

> > Hi Linus,
> > Sorry to bother you. I'm trying to find where you uploaded
> > linux-2.4.1-pre11.

> > I was on ftp.kernel.org and ftp.us.kernel.org and could not find it in the
> > /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4 or /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test-kernels/
> > directories. Is it somewhere different?

>   Patch was in /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test/patch-2.4.1-pre11.gz

Patch was in /pub/linux/kernel/test/patch-2.4.1-pre11.gz

Cut and paste screwup.  Sorry.

    [...]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux-2.4.1-pre11

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 04:55:51PM -0800, David D.W. Downey wrote:

> Hi Linus,
>   Sorry to bother you. I'm trying to find where you uploaded
> linux-2.4.1-pre11.

> I was on ftp.kernel.org and ftp.us.kernel.org and could not find it in the
> /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4 or /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test-kernels/
> directories. Is it somewhere different?

Patch was in /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test/patch-2.4.1-pre11.gz

> Also, Alan, I grabbed your patch-2.4.0-ac11.gz file from your directory on
> ftp.kernel.org. Does this contain the updated VIA IDE support that Linus
> was talking about in the 2.4.1-pre11?

> I'm thinking either kernel.org hasn't posted the 2.4.1-pre11 or I totally
> misunderstand the directory layout on kernel.org.

Close...

> A URL to the right patch or, preferably, full source for 2.4.1-pre11 would
> be great.

> Thanks,

> David D.W. Downey

    [...]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Support for 802.11 cards?

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 05:07:33PM -0500, John Jasen wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Jan 2001, Mike Pontillo wrote:

> > I was wondering what 802.11 PCI cards anyone knows of that run
> > under Linux-2.4. (or 2.2 for that matter)

> I _think_ a good many of the 802.11 wireless ISA and PCI cards are just
> bus to PCMCIA adapters, so it would be a question of whether or not the
> PCMCIA card is supported and if the bridge is supported.

Last I knew (straight from the Lucent people), the ISA bridge
card worked fine and the PCI card did NOT work at all.  I've since
confirmed that, first hand, myself (I currently have the ISA bridge in
operation) on the 2.2 kernels.  The ISA bridge also works on the 2.4
kernels but I have not retested the PCI bridge on 2.4.  The Lucent
people claim that the Linux pcmcia people are aware of the problem.

        Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [ANNOUNCE] Kernel Janitor's TODO list

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 03:20:18PM +, David Woodhouse wrote:

> [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
> >  Please send additions and corrections to me and I'll try to keep it
> > updated.

> Anything which uses sleep_on() has a 90% chance of being broken. Fix
> them all, because we want to remove sleep_on() and friends in 2.5.

And friends meaning "interruptible_sleep_on"?  Great...  I've
got a driver with about a half a dozen of them.  Point me at the Doco
to fix please?

> --
> dwmw2

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: hotmail not dealing with ECN

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 01:57:53PM +0100, Dominik Kubla wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 27, 2001 at 11:35:43PM -0500, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> ...
> > An attack against an Xray system is much more likely to come from inside the
> > companies network.
> ...

> We are not talking about attacks here, we are talking about undefined
> behaviour when (perhaps poorly designed) systems encounter network
> packages that use new or experimental features: I have seen MRI scanners
> panic when they received SNMP queries and SNMP has been around for ages!

Couple of years ago I did a security advisory on OS/9 (the
Microware OS that was originally designed for 6809 processors).  It
had become quite popular for embedded controllers.  I think at the time
it was ranked one of the top three embedded controller operating systems
and was used in a large number of Allen Bradley controllers.  Read that
last statement as saying that it was in a GOD AWFULL number of HVAC
controllers and factory automation controllers around the entire world.

We stumbled onto a flaw in the protocol stacks in OS/9 and it
couldn't handle being hit with an ICMP redirect.  The incoming stack
didn't properly recognize it and created some weird state in the outgoing
stack.  The next time the controller tried to transmit something, the
controller hung leaving whatever it was controlling in what ever position
it was in, no matter what the consequences.  This was "discovered" the
hard way at a site where the network people had not even realized that
all of these controllers were connected to the main corporate network.
Envision hundreds of controllers suddenly freezing and an entire plant
rapidly grinding to a complete halt.

My contact at Microware told me that they never anticipated having
those controllers hooked up to a general purpose network and OS/9 was
designed for such a small footprint (Hey, I had a multitasking, multiuser,
dial-in system running on a RadioShack CoCo with 64K of memory running OS/9)
that they had no room for handling ICMP redirects so they hadn't coded
it into the stack.  Multiple mistakes and assumptions resulted in a
security advisory warning about potential threats to human health and
safety.  They were having a bad day...  Especially when CNN called them.  :-/
(They had been notified over 6 months prior to the publication of the
advisory, BTW...)

That advisory concluded to isolate all embedded controllers to
insulated subnets and configure all routers to refuse to pass ICMP
redirect packets.  Anyone want to take bets if it's been done to
any great extent?  It will take some factory being knocked on it's
ass and making CNN, and even then most people won't take action because
most of the admins don't know what's on their networks in those
environments.

Upgrading a lot of these old controllers also meant physically
removing and replacing EPROMS. (One claim to fame for OS/9 is that it
was totally PIC and could be copied straight into EPROM and run
equally well from EPROM or RAM at arbitrary addresses.)  That's even
assuming you knew where all your controllers were and how to get to them!

So...  Yeah...  I can understand what can happen when unknown
packets reach devices that were not designed to handle them.  Bad Juju...
And embedded controllers are a hell of a lot more plentyful than X-Ray
machines.

> Yours,
>   Dominik Kubla
> -- 
>   A lovely thing to see:   Kobayashi Issa
>  through the paper window's holes   (1763-1828)
> the galaxy.   [taken from: David Brin - Sundiver]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: hotmail not dealing with ECN

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 01:57:53PM +0100, Dominik Kubla wrote:
 On Sat, Jan 27, 2001 at 11:35:43PM -0500, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
 ...
  An attack against an Xray system is much more likely to come from inside the
  companies network.
 ...

 We are not talking about attacks here, we are talking about undefined
 behaviour when (perhaps poorly designed) systems encounter network
 packages that use new or experimental features: I have seen MRI scanners
 panic when they received SNMP queries and SNMP has been around for ages!

Couple of years ago I did a security advisory on OS/9 (the
Microware OS that was originally designed for 6809 processors).  It
had become quite popular for embedded controllers.  I think at the time
it was ranked one of the top three embedded controller operating systems
and was used in a large number of Allen Bradley controllers.  Read that
last statement as saying that it was in a GOD AWFULL number of HVAC
controllers and factory automation controllers around the entire world.

We stumbled onto a flaw in the protocol stacks in OS/9 and it
couldn't handle being hit with an ICMP redirect.  The incoming stack
didn't properly recognize it and created some weird state in the outgoing
stack.  The next time the controller tried to transmit something, the
controller hung leaving whatever it was controlling in what ever position
it was in, no matter what the consequences.  This was "discovered" the
hard way at a site where the network people had not even realized that
all of these controllers were connected to the main corporate network.
Envision hundreds of controllers suddenly freezing and an entire plant
rapidly grinding to a complete halt.

My contact at Microware told me that they never anticipated having
those controllers hooked up to a general purpose network and OS/9 was
designed for such a small footprint (Hey, I had a multitasking, multiuser,
dial-in system running on a RadioShack CoCo with 64K of memory running OS/9)
that they had no room for handling ICMP redirects so they hadn't coded
it into the stack.  Multiple mistakes and assumptions resulted in a
security advisory warning about potential threats to human health and
safety.  They were having a bad day...  Especially when CNN called them.  :-/
(They had been notified over 6 months prior to the publication of the
advisory, BTW...)

That advisory concluded to isolate all embedded controllers to
insulated subnets and configure all routers to refuse to pass ICMP
redirect packets.  Anyone want to take bets if it's been done to
any great extent?  It will take some factory being knocked on it's
ass and making CNN, and even then most people won't take action because
most of the admins don't know what's on their networks in those
environments.

Upgrading a lot of these old controllers also meant physically
removing and replacing EPROMS. (One claim to fame for OS/9 is that it
was totally PIC and could be copied straight into EPROM and run
equally well from EPROM or RAM at arbitrary addresses.)  That's even
assuming you knew where all your controllers were and how to get to them!

So...  Yeah...  I can understand what can happen when unknown
packets reach devices that were not designed to handle them.  Bad Juju...
And embedded controllers are a hell of a lot more plentyful than X-Ray
machines.

 Yours,
   Dominik Kubla
 -- 
   A lovely thing to see:   Kobayashi Issa
  through the paper window's holes   (1763-1828)
 the galaxy.   [taken from: David Brin - Sundiver]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [ANNOUNCE] Kernel Janitor's TODO list

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 03:20:18PM +, David Woodhouse wrote:

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
   Please send additions and corrections to me and I'll try to keep it
  updated.

 Anything which uses sleep_on() has a 90% chance of being broken. Fix
 them all, because we want to remove sleep_on() and friends in 2.5.

And friends meaning "interruptible_sleep_on"?  Great...  I've
got a driver with about a half a dozen of them.  Point me at the Doco
to fix please?

 --
 dwmw2

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Support for 802.11 cards?

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 05:07:33PM -0500, John Jasen wrote:
 On Sun, 28 Jan 2001, Mike Pontillo wrote:

  I was wondering what 802.11 PCI cards anyone knows of that run
  under Linux-2.4. (or 2.2 for that matter)

 I _think_ a good many of the 802.11 wireless ISA and PCI cards are just
 bus to PCMCIA adapters, so it would be a question of whether or not the
 PCMCIA card is supported and if the bridge is supported.

Last I knew (straight from the Lucent people), the ISA bridge
card worked fine and the PCI card did NOT work at all.  I've since
confirmed that, first hand, myself (I currently have the ISA bridge in
operation) on the 2.2 kernels.  The ISA bridge also works on the 2.4
kernels but I have not retested the PCI bridge on 2.4.  The Lucent
people claim that the Linux pcmcia people are aware of the problem.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux-2.4.1-pre11

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 04:55:51PM -0800, David D.W. Downey wrote:

 Hi Linus,
   Sorry to bother you. I'm trying to find where you uploaded
 linux-2.4.1-pre11.

 I was on ftp.kernel.org and ftp.us.kernel.org and could not find it in the
 /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4 or /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test-kernels/
 directories. Is it somewhere different?

Patch was in /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test/patch-2.4.1-pre11.gz

 Also, Alan, I grabbed your patch-2.4.0-ac11.gz file from your directory on
 ftp.kernel.org. Does this contain the updated VIA IDE support that Linus
 was talking about in the 2.4.1-pre11?

 I'm thinking either kernel.org hasn't posted the 2.4.1-pre11 or I totally
 misunderstand the directory layout on kernel.org.

Close...

 A URL to the right patch or, preferably, full source for 2.4.1-pre11 would
 be great.

 Thanks,

 David D.W. Downey

[...]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Linux-2.4.1-pre11

2001-01-28 Thread Michael H. Warfield

Damn...  So much for typing too fast...  Screwed it up...

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 07:59:47PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
 On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 04:55:51PM -0800, David D.W. Downey wrote:

  Hi Linus,
  Sorry to bother you. I'm trying to find where you uploaded
  linux-2.4.1-pre11.

  I was on ftp.kernel.org and ftp.us.kernel.org and could not find it in the
  /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4 or /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test-kernels/
  directories. Is it somewhere different?

   Patch was in /pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/test/patch-2.4.1-pre11.gz

Patch was in /pub/linux/kernel/test/patch-2.4.1-pre11.gz

Cut and paste screwup.  Sorry.

[...]

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: hotmail not dealing with ECN

2001-01-26 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jan 26, 2001 at 01:52:26PM -0800, Stuart Lynne wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> James Sutherland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >On Fri, 26 Jan 2001, Lars Marowsky-Bree wrote:

> >Except you can't retry without ECN, because DaveM wants to do a Microsoft
> >and force ECN on everyone, whether they like it or not. If ECN is so

> No, he just wants them to ignore it like they are supposed to do if
> they don't know what it is.

> >wonderful, why doesn't anybody actually WANT to use it anyway?

> Because they are stupid and don't want to take the time and energy
> to upgrade their systems. 

> Most ISP's have the generic rule, if it ain't broke, don't fuck with it.
> Even the mighty microsoft learned just two days ago what happens if you
> make mistakes changing routing information.

No...  Microsoft learned, just two days ago, something that has
been part of best practices for over 15 years.  Do NOT put all of your
DNS servers on the same network!  The technical error may have triggered
the meltdown but if they had distributed their DNS the way they were
suppose to, it would have NOT taken them totally out.  It wasn't the
technician's mistake.  It was the single point of failure (and subsequently
the single point of attack).  He just triggered it.

> -- 
> __O 
> Lineo - For Emedded Linux Solutions   _-\<,_ 
> PGP Fingerprint: 28 E2 A0 15 99 62 9A 00 (_)/ (_) 88 EC A3 EE 2D 1C 15 68
> Stuart Lynne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>   www.fireplug.net604-461-7532

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: hotmail not dealing with ECN

2001-01-26 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Fri, Jan 26, 2001 at 01:52:26PM -0800, Stuart Lynne wrote:
 In article [EMAIL PROTECTED],
 James Sutherland [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On Fri, 26 Jan 2001, Lars Marowsky-Bree wrote:

 Except you can't retry without ECN, because DaveM wants to do a Microsoft
 and force ECN on everyone, whether they like it or not. If ECN is so

 No, he just wants them to ignore it like they are supposed to do if
 they don't know what it is.

 wonderful, why doesn't anybody actually WANT to use it anyway?

 Because they are stupid and don't want to take the time and energy
 to upgrade their systems. 

 Most ISP's have the generic rule, if it ain't broke, don't fuck with it.
 Even the mighty microsoft learned just two days ago what happens if you
 make mistakes changing routing information.

No...  Microsoft learned, just two days ago, something that has
been part of best practices for over 15 years.  Do NOT put all of your
DNS servers on the same network!  The technical error may have triggered
the meltdown but if they had distributed their DNS the way they were
suppose to, it would have NOT taken them totally out.  It wasn't the
technician's mistake.  It was the single point of failure (and subsequently
the single point of attack).  He just triggered it.

 -- 
 __O 
 Lineo - For Emedded Linux Solutions   _-\,_ 
 PGP Fingerprint: 28 E2 A0 15 99 62 9A 00 (_)/ (_) 88 EC A3 EE 2D 1C 15 68
 Stuart Lynne [EMAIL PROTECTED]   www.fireplug.net604-461-7532

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Which Bind version..

2001-01-09 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 12:56:37PM +0500, Mike wrote:
> Hi!!

> I wanna install Bind on my DNS. Which Bind version is most stabel and
> secure.

9.0.1 is the latest release in the 9.x series and if you are
interested in "SecureDNS", that's the way to go.  I'm currently running
9.1.0beta2, and it seems rock solid to me.  There is also 8.2.2P7 if
you want to stick the the older 8.x series, but I certainly wouldn't
if I were setting up a new DNS server.  The 4.x series is totally
deprecated at this point.  Personally, I wouldn't use anything less
than 9.0.1 and I currently support over 100 domains on my servers
(my partner runs a hosting service).

> Regards,
> Nauman Ansari

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Which Bind version..

2001-01-09 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 12:56:37PM +0500, Mike wrote:
 Hi!!

 I wanna install Bind on my DNS. Which Bind version is most stabel and
 secure.

9.0.1 is the latest release in the 9.x series and if you are
interested in "SecureDNS", that's the way to go.  I'm currently running
9.1.0beta2, and it seems rock solid to me.  There is also 8.2.2P7 if
you want to stick the the older 8.x series, but I certainly wouldn't
if I were setting up a new DNS server.  The 4.x series is totally
deprecated at this point.  Personally, I wouldn't use anything less
than 9.0.1 and I currently support over 100 domains on my servers
(my partner runs a hosting service).

 Regards,
 Nauman Ansari

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 10:30:14PM -0500, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 08:22:28PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> > I already run several sugarplum sites with teergrubes.  I also use
> > various blackhole lists and take other action against spammers, including
> > blocking entire rogue domains.  If that rogue domain happens to be a two
> > letter TLD, so be it.  If it gets bad enough, maybe they'll fix it.

> You are suggesting that it is acceptable to implement technological
> barriers to a minority expressing speech that is unacceptable to the
> majority. This is not acceptable.

No...  I'm say that their right to free speech does not trump
my right to not have to listen to it or download it and I determine
the criterion, they don't.  I have, in my right to free speech, the
right to say screw off, I don't want to hear it.

> When you subscript your mailbox to list of 'spammers' to avoid associating
> with them, with the knowledge that you may lose some valuable mail, that is
> fine.

Excuse me???  Clue alert!  I'm not subscribing anything to any
spam mailbox.  I'm not doing jack shit to subscribe myself to anything
to do with them.  I am leaving bait around for them to screw themselves,
but I certainly have the free speech right to do that, now don't I?
I don't go to them and say "subscribe all these addresses".  I don't
say to them, send E-Mail here.  They are trespassing on my systems,
clearly stepping over well delineated boundries.

I'm really lost by your reasoning on this one.  "Subscribing my
mailbox to a list of 'spammers' to avoid associating with them, with the
knowledge that you loose some valuable mail" makes absolutely no sense
what so ever.  The legitimate mail I may or may not loose has no bearing
on the sugarplum or teergrube systems (which is what I'm assuming that
you are elluding to).

> The situation is similar to not visiting a gay bar if you don't like
> homosexual people. However, that is not what you are doing blocking whole
> countries. That is like building concrete barriers around cites to punish
> them for not oppressing their own minority citizen ("I'm going to block your
> whole country until you outlaw this class of speech I find offensive").

Tough...  I find the speech offensive, I don't have to listen
to it.  If I find that the level of offensive speech from a particular
source exceeds all value, then I have the right to block it.  They don't
like it, they have a right to change.  Like I said...  I don't take
active action against them.  They have to come to me.  They come to
my web site and step over my limits and contact my systems.  I'm not
going to them.

> Spam is not good, but destroying freedom is worse. I suggest that every
> person who is eager to use oppressive technological measures to stop spammers
> please consider the potential wider consequences.

Destroying my freedom is just as bad.  I have the freedom to
choose and I have the freedom not to be plagued by the vermin who have
harvested my addresses and are using them in a way that violates my
acceptable use on my addresses.

> Today the majority thinks spam is wrong, today you are a part of the
> majority. The Internet should always avoid the tyranny of the masses, even
> when it's operators are a part of the 'mass' today. Tomorrow the issue will
> not be spam, and you might not be in the majority.

Not a problem.  Won't be the first time and won't be the last time.
I deal and so shall they.

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 06:31:11PM -0700, Matt Beland wrote:

> Thereby killing how many hundreds of innocent people? China doesn't much 
> believe in fining minor offenders, remember. 

> You don't like Spam? Join the club. Blacklisting any domain - ANY domain - 
> for spamming, unless you can absolutely prove that no legitimate email has 
> ever been sent from that server, is completely unacceptable. You complain 
> about the wasted time and bandwidth caused by Spam messages - how much time 
> do you waste every year blocking legitimate messages?

Not nearly as much time wasted as the time and bandwidth that
gets wasted for doing nothing.  The problem is bad enough.  Letting
them run wild will make the cesspool stink even worse.

The sites that get blocked are misconfigured and need to be
fixed.  They're just getting a little more incentive.  Most of the spam
I reject gets rejected before the data transfered (blackhole tagged).
That preserves my resources.  Spot checking indicates that I'm loosing
very little legitimate mail.  Example...  By using DULS RBL, I block the
majority of directed mail from dialup sites.  Spot checking reveals that
my kill ratio is better than 100:1 on that (100 spam to less than 1 legit).
Only site I have ever needed to code an exception for was Bruce Peren's
Map site when he had to move it to a personal connection.  (BTW...  I
spot check by running some sites configured to drop rejected mail in spam
cans and occasionally do this on my main server.  I also check logs for
legit traffic being rejected.)

Anyone who hits one of my teergrubes has absolutely no legitimate
business what so ever!  There is not a single legitimate address on those
tarpits.  Oh!  The poor sucky spammer got stuck talking to a few thousand
addresses on a machine that takes three minutes to tell him "OK".  Sorry,
no tears...  They get exactly what they deserve.  They got the addresses
by violating the robots.txt rules and harvesting poisoned pages.  That's
the only way they will find those addresses.  Tough.

BTW...  I'm seeing several spam address harvestors chewing on my
sugarplums every week.  It's getting close to seeing more spam address
harvestors than seeing legitimate search engines through my web sites.

Mind you...  What I do is actually pretty minor.  The potential
for real damage really exists.  Several anti-spam sites jokingly suggest
that rejection codes should be "4xx" codes instead of "5xx" codes.  Think
about that for a second...  They haven't transferred any data to you but
you tell them to hold that data and try back later (4xx codes signify
temporary errors that may be retried).  So that data sits on their
system until their final retries time out several days (5 days typical)
later.  Now...  Take that and take advantage of the old "percent hack"
that thousands of servers around the net still support (and are vulnerable
open relays in and of their own right).  Send a message to each of those
servers pecent hacking a huge message at the chump you want to target
with a final address of a system that blocks him with a 4xx code.  With
little effort you can totally shut down his mail spool and backup mail
onto the percent hackable servers.  Even if he manually cleans his spool,
he's got another shit load or two waiting for him.

Sites which permit open relaying are vulnerable to the 4xx code
attacks.  They have an open death trap DoS security vulnerability on them.
The fact that we don't take advantage of it, means we're the nice guys.
We only give them 5xx codes and tell them to go away...

I have the right to decide, based on what ever criterion I chose,
to accept or reject E-Mail.  For the sites that I administer for a large
E-Mail base, that needs to be in accordance with the established policies.
In most cases, I have a hard time coming up with rules strict enough
to adhere to those policies while still keeping the mail flowing.  The
owners of those sites have a right to dictate those policies.  Not
the senders.

> Matt

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 07:27:45PM -0500, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 06:16:15PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
> > 99% of mine is from China (either *.cn or 163.com or some other
> > numbering .com or .net.  The .org is frowned upon in China - the TLD of
> > protestors and disidents).  Half of what's left comes from either .kr
> > or .br.  I'm fully in favor of an Internet Death Penalty against those
> > TLD's and associated domains till they clean up their acts.

> Yea! 
> Next we'll take care of those subversive linux bastards that clog up our big
> pipes with their communist kernel downloads!

> Unsolicited commercial email is a problem. However, many of the 'solutions'
> are worse. Search for teergrube for a less subvertible aid. 

I already run several sugarplum sites with teergrubes.  I also use
various blackhole lists and take other action against spammers, including
blocking entire rogue domains.  If that rogue domain happens to be a two
letter TLD, so be it.  If it gets bad enough, maybe they'll fix it.

> You can pile on technological 'fixes' as much as you want, but no
> technological measure that does not totally oppress free use of the Internet
> will be affective. Education is the only solution, spam will continue as
> long as it is profitable.

Actually, the most fun with the Chinese is to take advantage
of their "four horsemen of the Infocalypse".  Ours (in the US and many
other western countries) is "Drug Dealing", "Money Laundering",
"Pedophiles", and "Terrorists".  In China it's "Taiwan", "Tibet",
"Dissidents", and "Pornography".

In discussing the Spam problem with some Chinese officials in
Beijing back in June of last year, they were really ho hum about the
whole thing till I mentioned that a lot of the spam being relayed out
of the Phillipeans through Chinese sites was promoting pornography.
That got some people sitting up real tight.  They didn't care that
their pipeline in and out of China was oversubscribed by an order
of magnitude and spammers were clogging it with trash, but they
damn well did care if that trash had anything to do with pornography.

I've heard some people suggest that they mail message back to
spam sites in China thanking them for their mail and including some
propaganda on Taiwan or Tibet.  Maybe some Falun Gong literature would
be nice...

Attack a social problem by turning another social problem loose... :-)

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 12:03:19AM +0100, Pedro M. Rodrigues wrote:

>Lucky b*st*rd! ;-) My spam is mostly from USA. Just deleted 78 
> of those, and only 7 seemed to be from abroad. I wish i could block 
> .com ... ;-)

99% of mine is from China (either *.cn or 163.com or some other
numbering .com or .net.  The .org is frowned upon in China - the TLD of
protestors and disidents).  Half of what's left comes from either .kr
or .br.  I'm fully in favor of an Internet Death Penalty against those
TLD's and associated domains till they clean up their acts.

> Pedro


> On 7 Jan 2001, at 17:53, John O'Donnell wrote:

> > Only on my company's e-mail server.  My company typically gets "zero"
> > emails from outside the US.  If I get a piece of spam (sorry they are
> > typically from outside the US), I just block the entire .com.br
> > domain. I get far less SPAM now!  I cannot express how much I loathe
> > SPAM! I have taken this one in particular out just for you  :-) I
> > am the only one at my company really active on the internet..
> > apologies Johnny O

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 12:03:19AM +0100, Pedro M. Rodrigues wrote:

Lucky b*st*rd! ;-) My spam is mostly from USA. Just deleted 78 
 of those, and only 7 seemed to be from abroad. I wish i could block 
 .com ... ;-)

99% of mine is from China (either *.cn or 163.com or some other
numbering .com or .net.  The .org is frowned upon in China - the TLD of
protestors and disidents).  Half of what's left comes from either .kr
or .br.  I'm fully in favor of an Internet Death Penalty against those
TLD's and associated domains till they clean up their acts.

 Pedro


 On 7 Jan 2001, at 17:53, John O'Donnell wrote:

  Only on my company's e-mail server.  My company typically gets "zero"
  emails from outside the US.  If I get a piece of spam (sorry they are
  typically from outside the US), I just block the entire .com.br
  domain. I get far less SPAM now!  I cannot express how much I loathe
  SPAM! I have taken this one in particular out just for you  :-) I
  am the only one at my company really active on the internet..
  apologies Johnny O

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 07:27:45PM -0500, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
 On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 06:16:15PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
  99% of mine is from China (either *.cn or 163.com or some other
  numbering .com or .net.  The .org is frowned upon in China - the TLD of
  protestors and disidents).  Half of what's left comes from either .kr
  or .br.  I'm fully in favor of an Internet Death Penalty against those
  TLD's and associated domains till they clean up their acts.

 Yea! 
 Next we'll take care of those subversive linux bastards that clog up our big
 pipes with their communist kernel downloads!

 Unsolicited commercial email is a problem. However, many of the 'solutions'
 are worse. Search for teergrube for a less subvertible aid. 

I already run several sugarplum sites with teergrubes.  I also use
various blackhole lists and take other action against spammers, including
blocking entire rogue domains.  If that rogue domain happens to be a two
letter TLD, so be it.  If it gets bad enough, maybe they'll fix it.

 You can pile on technological 'fixes' as much as you want, but no
 technological measure that does not totally oppress free use of the Internet
 will be affective. Education is the only solution, spam will continue as
 long as it is profitable.

Actually, the most fun with the Chinese is to take advantage
of their "four horsemen of the Infocalypse".  Ours (in the US and many
other western countries) is "Drug Dealing", "Money Laundering",
"Pedophiles", and "Terrorists".  In China it's "Taiwan", "Tibet",
"Dissidents", and "Pornography".

In discussing the Spam problem with some Chinese officials in
Beijing back in June of last year, they were really ho hum about the
whole thing till I mentioned that a lot of the spam being relayed out
of the Phillipeans through Chinese sites was promoting pornography.
That got some people sitting up real tight.  They didn't care that
their pipeline in and out of China was oversubscribed by an order
of magnitude and spammers were clogging it with trash, but they
damn well did care if that trash had anything to do with pornography.

I've heard some people suggest that they mail message back to
spam sites in China thanking them for their mail and including some
propaganda on Taiwan or Tibet.  Maybe some Falun Gong literature would
be nice...

Attack a social problem by turning another social problem loose... :-)

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 06:31:11PM -0700, Matt Beland wrote:

 Thereby killing how many hundreds of innocent people? China doesn't much 
 believe in fining minor offenders, remember. 

 You don't like Spam? Join the club. Blacklisting any domain - ANY domain - 
 for spamming, unless you can absolutely prove that no legitimate email has 
 ever been sent from that server, is completely unacceptable. You complain 
 about the wasted time and bandwidth caused by Spam messages - how much time 
 do you waste every year blocking legitimate messages?

Not nearly as much time wasted as the time and bandwidth that
gets wasted for doing nothing.  The problem is bad enough.  Letting
them run wild will make the cesspool stink even worse.

The sites that get blocked are misconfigured and need to be
fixed.  They're just getting a little more incentive.  Most of the spam
I reject gets rejected before the data transfered (blackhole tagged).
That preserves my resources.  Spot checking indicates that I'm loosing
very little legitimate mail.  Example...  By using DULS RBL, I block the
majority of directed mail from dialup sites.  Spot checking reveals that
my kill ratio is better than 100:1 on that (100 spam to less than 1 legit).
Only site I have ever needed to code an exception for was Bruce Peren's
Map site when he had to move it to a personal connection.  (BTW...  I
spot check by running some sites configured to drop rejected mail in spam
cans and occasionally do this on my main server.  I also check logs for
legit traffic being rejected.)

Anyone who hits one of my teergrubes has absolutely no legitimate
business what so ever!  There is not a single legitimate address on those
tarpits.  Oh!  The poor sucky spammer got stuck talking to a few thousand
addresses on a machine that takes three minutes to tell him "OK".  Sorry,
no tears...  They get exactly what they deserve.  They got the addresses
by violating the robots.txt rules and harvesting poisoned pages.  That's
the only way they will find those addresses.  Tough.

BTW...  I'm seeing several spam address harvestors chewing on my
sugarplums every week.  It's getting close to seeing more spam address
harvestors than seeing legitimate search engines through my web sites.

Mind you...  What I do is actually pretty minor.  The potential
for real damage really exists.  Several anti-spam sites jokingly suggest
that rejection codes should be "4xx" codes instead of "5xx" codes.  Think
about that for a second...  They haven't transferred any data to you but
you tell them to hold that data and try back later (4xx codes signify
temporary errors that may be retried).  So that data sits on their
system until their final retries time out several days (5 days typical)
later.  Now...  Take that and take advantage of the old "percent hack"
that thousands of servers around the net still support (and are vulnerable
open relays in and of their own right).  Send a message to each of those
servers pecent hacking a huge message at the chump you want to target
with a final address of a system that blocks him with a 4xx code.  With
little effort you can totally shut down his mail spool and backup mail
onto the percent hackable servers.  Even if he manually cleans his spool,
he's got another shit load or two waiting for him.

Sites which permit open relaying are vulnerable to the 4xx code
attacks.  They have an open death trap DoS security vulnerability on them.
The fact that we don't take advantage of it, means we're the nice guys.
We only give them 5xx codes and tell them to go away...

I have the right to decide, based on what ever criterion I chose,
to accept or reject E-Mail.  For the sites that I administer for a large
E-Mail base, that needs to be in accordance with the established policies.
In most cases, I have a hard time coming up with rules strict enough
to adhere to those policies while still keeping the mail flowing.  The
owners of those sites have a right to dictate those policies.  Not
the senders.

 Matt

Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: [OT] Re: [OT] Re: .br blacklisted ?

2001-01-07 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 10:30:14PM -0500, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
 On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 08:22:28PM -0500, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
  I already run several sugarplum sites with teergrubes.  I also use
  various blackhole lists and take other action against spammers, including
  blocking entire rogue domains.  If that rogue domain happens to be a two
  letter TLD, so be it.  If it gets bad enough, maybe they'll fix it.

 You are suggesting that it is acceptable to implement technological
 barriers to a minority expressing speech that is unacceptable to the
 majority. This is not acceptable.

No...  I'm say that their right to free speech does not trump
my right to not have to listen to it or download it and I determine
the criterion, they don't.  I have, in my right to free speech, the
right to say screw off, I don't want to hear it.

 When you subscript your mailbox to list of 'spammers' to avoid associating
 with them, with the knowledge that you may lose some valuable mail, that is
 fine.

Excuse me???  Clue alert!  I'm not subscribing anything to any
spam mailbox.  I'm not doing jack shit to subscribe myself to anything
to do with them.  I am leaving bait around for them to screw themselves,
but I certainly have the free speech right to do that, now don't I?
I don't go to them and say "subscribe all these addresses".  I don't
say to them, send E-Mail here.  They are trespassing on my systems,
clearly stepping over well delineated boundries.

I'm really lost by your reasoning on this one.  "Subscribing my
mailbox to a list of 'spammers' to avoid associating with them, with the
knowledge that you loose some valuable mail" makes absolutely no sense
what so ever.  The legitimate mail I may or may not loose has no bearing
on the sugarplum or teergrube systems (which is what I'm assuming that
you are elluding to).

 The situation is similar to not visiting a gay bar if you don't like
 homosexual people. However, that is not what you are doing blocking whole
 countries. That is like building concrete barriers around cites to punish
 them for not oppressing their own minority citizen ("I'm going to block your
 whole country until you outlaw this class of speech I find offensive").

Tough...  I find the speech offensive, I don't have to listen
to it.  If I find that the level of offensive speech from a particular
source exceeds all value, then I have the right to block it.  They don't
like it, they have a right to change.  Like I said...  I don't take
active action against them.  They have to come to me.  They come to
my web site and step over my limits and contact my systems.  I'm not
going to them.

 Spam is not good, but destroying freedom is worse. I suggest that every
 person who is eager to use oppressive technological measures to stop spammers
 please consider the potential wider consequences.

Destroying my freedom is just as bad.  I have the freedom to
choose and I have the freedom not to be plagued by the vermin who have
harvested my addresses and are using them in a way that violates my
acceptable use on my addresses.

 Today the majority thinks spam is wrong, today you are a part of the
 majority. The Internet should always avoid the tyranny of the masses, even
 when it's operators are a part of the 'mass' today. Tomorrow the issue will
 not be spam, and you might not be in the majority.

Not a problem.  Won't be the first time and won't be the last time.
I deal and so shall they.

    Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Good mailing list.

2001-01-02 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jan 02, 2001 at 09:24:11AM -0500, Timothy A. DeWees wrote:
> Hello,

> Since it takes quite a it of time for me to deal with news groups, could
> someone please point me to a _LINUX_ news group that could help me with
> password sync between Unix and Windows.  I am using Microsofts password sync
> tool that comes with SFU 1.2.  I know I sould ask Micr$loth, but I have been
> for two mounths and thay refuse to help me.  I get ignored in the Micro$loth
> list, and I have a deadline.  Besides, I have found that most linux hackers
> know more about Micro$loth then the _GOOD_ people at Micro$sloth.

You might be better off asking this up on one of the Samba
mailing lists.  We have options in Samba for simultaniously changing
both the Windows NT password hashes and the Unix hashes where Samba
is providing NT encrypted password authentication.  You can also use
pam_smb to use the NT password hashes for Unix password validation as
well.  In either case, it's more a generic Unix thing than it is a
specific Linux thing and you're more like to find your answers in the
Samba project.  Try [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

> Thanks, and sorry for any disturbance!

> --
> Kind Regards,
> Timothy A. DeWees
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



Re: Good mailing list.

2001-01-02 Thread Michael H. Warfield

On Tue, Jan 02, 2001 at 09:24:11AM -0500, Timothy A. DeWees wrote:
 Hello,

 Since it takes quite a it of time for me to deal with news groups, could
 someone please point me to a _LINUX_ news group that could help me with
 password sync between Unix and Windows.  I am using Microsofts password sync
 tool that comes with SFU 1.2.  I know I sould ask Micr$loth, but I have been
 for two mounths and thay refuse to help me.  I get ignored in the Micro$loth
 list, and I have a deadline.  Besides, I have found that most linux hackers
 know more about Micro$loth then the _GOOD_ people at Micro$sloth.

You might be better off asking this up on one of the Samba
mailing lists.  We have options in Samba for simultaniously changing
both the Windows NT password hashes and the Unix hashes where Samba
is providing NT encrypted password authentication.  You can also use
pam_smb to use the NT password hashes for Unix password validation as
well.  In either case, it's more a generic Unix thing than it is a
specific Linux thing and you're more like to find your answers in the
Samba project.  Try [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

 Thanks, and sorry for any disturbance!

 --
 Kind Regards,
 Timothy A. DeWees
 
 -
 To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
 the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield|  (770) 985-6132   |  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  (The Mad Wizard)  |  (678) 463-0932   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9  |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471|  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/



  1   2   >