[LBo] [Opinion] Critical Linux security API is still a kludge

[Floris Kraak]

On 10/24/06, James Allen <jfallen at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/23/06, Sam Morgan <s.morgan at linuxbasics.org> wrote:
> > Seems the AV folks are insisting the increased usage of VMWare and Wine to run
> > Win pgms is going to, sooner or later, come back to haunt linux users.....
> >
> >  From the UK.theinquirer.net
> >
> > "The talk lately has centered about Vista's security APIs, but Linux certainly
> > needs improvements in this area, because AV vendors still rely on an external
> > kernel module to implement 'real time' file scanning..."
> >
> > http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=35263
> >
> >
> > Comments anyone?
>
> I have to admit, this article should be in the humor section.  Who
> would run wine to run AV software to scan Linux?

Somebody would, apparently ;-)

> Is this a marketing tactic by Symantec? Have they not heard of anti-virus software that
> runs on Linux (not through wine) or is it that that software is free?

You'd have to ask the author that.
With whom I've started an email discussion today, coincidentally.
Articles shouldn't include "flame the author" buttons if they can't
deal with criticism :-)

(I've added him to the bcc: line for this reply. He may be interested,
but I'm not giving out his email without permission)


> I wouldn't run a virus magnet program such as  MS Word on Linux
> anyway. In fact, I don't have any reason to run wine at all.

I use it to run World of Warcraft. But then again, I quit that game so
I'm not sure I can be counted as a wine user. ;-)


> Question though, what could a virus download from a windows program
> through wine do anyway? I don't think it could infect other files
> could it?
>

Somebody actually tested that. Would have to search for the article
(it was on linuxworld or something) but somebody actually tried
running a self-proclaimed 'cross platform' email virus under wine, to
see how far it would get.

The answer: Not very.


Regards,
Floris
-- 
"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.
There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked
solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
  - Martin Luther King