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From: simsong@daily-bugle.media.mit.edu (Simson L. Garfinkel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: "file" operator disabled on NeXT 2.0
Message-ID: <4900@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Date: 16 Jan 91 16:13:01 GMT
Sender: news@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU
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In article "file" operator disabled on NeXT 2.0
 glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid)
of : RightBrain Software, Woodside, CA writes:

>Somebody posted about this a while ago, and I just now got around to
>trying it out.

>The "file" operator on the new release of NeXT system software will not
>allow you to open a file for writing.  It doesn't generate an error,
>it just doesn't create the file (or allow you to modify an existing one).

>I presume this is done for security reasons, but I find it to be
>incompatible with other PostScript platforms and quite a nuisance.  I
>also can't quite figure why it would be a security risk, since the
>WindowServer runs as a user process with the user's normal userid.
>You can open files for reading with "file", but it won't let you open
>files you don't have normal UNIX access to, and opening files for
>writing shouldn't be any different.
- 
 Glenn Reid				RightBrain Software
 glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us		NeXT/PostScript developers
 ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn		415-851-1785 (fax 851-1470)



Glenn,

	If you can open up a file for writing from within postscript, then I could send you a piece of postscript in a mail message that would open up your ".login" or ".cshrc" files for writing and write the following command:

	/bin/rm -rf ~