Hello! Here is my weekly changes that I was able to add to the wiki. 1) I took the concrete example of the confused deputy problem from wikipedia and added it to the capabilities page. 2) I added some more information on the libstore page. I got the information from the source code. 3) This is probably the most controversial change. I mentioned that Debian GNU/Hurd is probably not the most stable OS on the GNU OS page. I then provided a link to GNU's free distro pages, and I also recommended users to use GNU GuixSD.
Thanks!
>From e6a5cded445f832f416325c8cbc520115d40c334 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: IkiWiki <ikiwiki.info> Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2019 10:06:17 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] I added a concrete example to the capability page. --- capability.mdwn | 10 ++++++++++ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+) diff --git a/capability.mdwn b/capability.mdwn index 0ebe5cd4..32a9b68f 100644 --- a/capability.mdwn +++ b/capability.mdwn @@ -28,6 +28,16 @@ sent a string to identify the file to B, the identifier lacks a than A intended. By ensuring that [[designation]] and [[authorization]] are always bound together, these problems are avoided. +If you found the above example a little too abstract, then consider the example +found on the [[wikipedia|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confused_deputy_problem]] +page. Suppose a trusted server runs a compilation process, bills clients for +using the service, and stores billing information in the "bills.txt" file. The +compilation server needs clients to provide the name of the input and output +files to compile the program. Suppose a client calls the compilation server +and specifies the output file as the "billing.txt" file. The server compiles +the program, and then overwrites the billing information. Now the server does +not know who to bill for the use of its services. + Capability-based system architectures strive to meet the *principle of least privilege* ({{$wikipedia_polp}}). -- 2.20.1
>From f780ba4ace424fc40895cb0bb7522d75699f6209 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: IkiWiki <ikiwiki.info> Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2019 10:06:50 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] I added a few more sentences to the libstore page. --- hurd/libstore.mdwn | 7 +++++-- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/hurd/libstore.mdwn b/hurd/libstore.mdwn index 45fc0860..7cdadc1e 100644 --- a/hurd/libstore.mdwn +++ b/hurd/libstore.mdwn @@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation License|/fdl]]."]]"""]] -`libstore` is used to provide a generic interface to access data (read/write) -on backing stores. +`libstore` is used to provide a generic interface to access data (read/write) on +backing stores. This library implements many different backends which allow the +abstract store interface to be used with common types of storage -- devices, +files, memory, tasks, etc. It also allows stores to be combined and filtered in +various ways. It more than just a thin layer between [[GNU Mach|microkernel/mach/gnumach]] devices (`hd0` for example) and the device node below `/dev/`... -- 2.20.1
>From 765d7e114a378bb59d97196681412752670e158b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: IkiWiki <ikiwiki.info> Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2019 10:07:11 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] I added a few paragraphs to the GNU System page. --- hurd/running/gnu.mdwn | 20 +++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/hurd/running/gnu.mdwn b/hurd/running/gnu.mdwn index accba6b7..69a3210a 100644 --- a/hurd/running/gnu.mdwn +++ b/hurd/running/gnu.mdwn @@ -5,8 +5,26 @@ complete [[Unix]]-like operating system composed entirely of [free software](http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html). The creation of the GNU System is one of the goals of the [GNU Project](http://www.gnu.org/), which was [launched in 1983](http://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html) by -[Richard Stallman](http://www.stallman.org/). +[Richard Stallman](http://www.stallman.org/). It has many ambitious goals that +the GNU/Hurd intends to address. +These goals include increased security through the [[principle of least +privilege|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle%5Fof%5Fleast%5Fprivilege]], an +[[extensible system|extensibility]], conformation to open operating standards +including [[POSIX|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX]], modularity, and +respecting user freedom. Many of these goals are things that the GNU/Hurd can +resolve, however the GNU/Hurd is not the most stable operating system yet. + +If you are looking for a production ready GNU system, then Debian GNU/Hurd may +not be the best choice for you. Debian GNU/Hurd currently lacks 64-bit support, +many device drivers, sound support, SMP, and a few other essential bits that +provide a flexible operating system. + +However, [[gnu.org|https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html]] maintains a +list of freedom respecting and production ready GNU/Linux systems. One of the +most promising of these is [[guixSD|https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/]], which +is the GNU Guix System Distribution, which eventually plans to support the GNU +Hurd as the kernel! ## Resources -- 2.20.1
-- Joshua Branson Sent from Emacs and Gnus
