From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Chris McGee Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-A0016A24-1D6C-4960-8416-7C8216772F5A Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) Message-Id: <92A3C379-3B7C-4EB6-9225-BCC5531BA585@yahoo.ca> Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 13:25:34 -0400 References: In-Reply-To: To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] Questions on the browser as a platform if plan 9 had gained marketshare Topicbox-Message-UUID: 9faf52fe-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --Apple-Mail-A0016A24-1D6C-4960-8416-7C8216772F5A Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable >=20 > > You just mount search engine, route planning tool, or even shopping site= and echo commands into the ctl file.=20 >=20 > I hadn't thought of this - was more thinking on the user union mounting, s= ay, google.com/bin into their bin directory and running a google operation. T= he concept of just echoing into a ctl file is really interesting from a secu= rity perspective. Right, in this case there is no remote code execution. Web users run all kin= ds of code they are unaware of today. It's a major problem. It also helps to create a certain uniformity and expectation of how services= should work. Mounting a bin directory from some remote servers is a potential vector for m= alicious code and requires all services to provide binaries for all platform= s (arm, x86, riscv,...). Instead, serving the source code and mkfile allows f= or audit ability (what did I just run?) and support for their own platform. P= lan 9 compilers were designed not just to produce optimal code but also for s= peed of compilation.= --Apple-Mail-A0016A24-1D6C-4960-8416-7C8216772F5A Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

> You just mount search engine, route planning tool, or even shoppin= g site and echo commands into the ctl file.

I hadn't thought of this - was more thinking on the user union mountin= g, say, google.com/bin into their bin d= irectory and running a google operation. The concept of just echoing into a c= tl file is really interesting from a security perspective.

Right, in this case there is no remote code execu= tion. Web users run all kinds of code they are unaware of today. It's a majo= r problem.

It also helps to create a certain unifor= mity and expectation of how services should work.

Mounting a b= in directory from some remote servers is a potential vector for malicious co= de and requires all services to provide binaries for all platforms (arm, x86= , riscv,...). Instead, serving the source code and mkfile allows for audit a= bility (what did I just run?) and support for their own platform. Plan 9 com= pilers were designed not just to produce optimal code but also for speed of c= ompilation.
= --Apple-Mail-A0016A24-1D6C-4960-8416-7C8216772F5A--