On 9/17/05, Rob Rypka <rascal1182 / gmail.com> wrote:
> On 9/17/05, Mark Volkmann <r.mark.volkmann / gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > When $SAFE is >= 2 then code can't be loaded from "globally writable
> > locations".
> > Can someone clarify what a "globally" writable location is?
> > What locations are not globally writable?
> 
> I assume you're getting this out of the "pick axe" book.

Yes.

> Later down, they
> refer to it also as "world writable," a term you might be familiar with.

Ah, if I had seen that it would have helped. What page do you see that on?
 
> It just means the permissions on the file/directory are such that any user
> on the host has the ability to write to the file, rather than just a
> particular user or group. If your system hosting the program is accessable
> to lots of people, it means you could load a program that was changed and
> possibly harmful.
> 
> I really don't know how it's handled on FAT filesystems (which have no
> permission mechanism), but I assume it considers those bad as well.

I tried the following under Windows and Ruby didn't complain.

$SAFE = 2
load 'moreCode.rb' # just contains a puts

Shouldn't it have complained?

> Here's the first UNIX file permission tutorial that came up on Google -
> looks decent:
> http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rc/help/faq/permissions.html
> 
> Hope that helps you out.

Thanks!

-- 
R. Mark Volkmann
Partner, Object Computing, Inc.