Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!texbell!dungeon!notes
From: notes@dungeon.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Read-Only Hard Disk
Message-ID: <6700001@dungeon>
Date: 6 Aug 90 05:26:00 GMT
References: <3809@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca>
Lines: 46
Nf-ID: #R:quiche.cs.mcgill.ca:3809:dungeon:6700001:004:2155
Nf-From: dungeon.UUCP!notes    Aug  6 00:26:00 1990


-> Written  by ts@uwasa.fi
-> In article <1990Aug1.182905.26354@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> devolder@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Eric DeVolder) writes:
-> >... marcus@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (Mark FREEDMAN) writes:
-> >>We are looking for software that will mark a given hard disk 
-> >>partition as 'read-only'.  The only PD ones I've seen, 'wphd' 
-> )
-> )I am also looking for such a program.  Similarly, I am also looking for
-> )a program that will read-protect a disk/partition.
-> 
-> This reply is admittedly somewhat off target, but how about hiding
-> the main directory of the relevant partition.  This should be a kind
-> of a surrogate read protection.  There are PD utilities around for
-> hiding directories (just look at the various ftp site file lists). 
-> (Or it is relatively easy to write one).  The advantage of this
-> method is that it is rather harmless.  Watch out for command.com,
-> however, and make sure that it can be found by your system if you
-> hide things. 
-> 

	Unfortuntaly, I hid a directory on our last distrubution disk.  The
result was the everyone and their brother could look at the directory, (there
are a *lot* of programs that kinda ignore a directories hidden flag - Ie: 
Pctools, Norton's, and many, many other programs.)  The only real effect of
hiding the directory was that when someone's disk out there crashed, they 
had to reinstall the software from scratch as their backup didn't contain
my directory!

	I decided that it had truly failed when I had someone ask me what
files in this directory were really needed!  He had already deleted most
of the ones that "he figured out that he didn't need."

	The above method isn't going to stop anyone, and is *much* more
effort than it's worth.  [And doesn't solve the problem.]


	What I'd like is a "set-uid'ed" program that can write to a directory
that noone else can write to.  This would be absolutely wonderful!  I'd even
pay bucks for it..

	-Chert

--
Chert Pellett - chert@spdyne.lonestar.org || chert@dungeon.lonestar.org
A layman knows he has to kick it.  An amateur knows where to kick it.
A professional knows how hard.  And a wise man knows when to kick it.