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From: louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: only PS fixed in 2.1?
Keywords: OS 2.1, PostScript
Message-ID: <1991Mar13.144929.25876@ni.umd.edu>
Date: 13 Mar 91 14:49:29 GMT
References: <27413@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <1991Mar13.064804.16235@agate.berkeley.edu>
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>Yesterday's issue of infoworld stated that NeXT was releasing 2.1
>OS to rectify a last-minute disabling of several PostScript commands
>in version 2.0.  Seems that the commands had the ability, when 
>mailed to another NeXT, of erasing the recipient's Mach kernal.

Yet another example of in-depth reporting from inforworld.  First, I
think its a pretty lame excuse to remove a capability that some of
were using (that is, using the PostScript 'file' operator to open a
file for writing) without offering some alternative capability.

For example, rather than completely disabling opening files for
writing, NeXT could have (like DEC did with their Display PostScript)
restricted the directories that the file could exist in.  While this
is a minor inconvienience, it certainly is preferable to losing the 
capability entirely.

As for "erasing the recpient's Mach kernel", I suspect that people
don't look at SHAR archives any closer than PostScript programs, and I
can mail those to people too who will unpack them without looking.

I certainly hope tha this rumor is true; it means I can us the
'Distill' program once again and take advantage of Display PostScript
as a platform for developing PostScript-generating applications again.

Another question along this line: has there been any work in extending
the concept of Public/Private window server beyond just a binary
switch?  It would sure be nice if you could specify a list if IP
addresses, or even a hook that you plug in some authentication
mechanism (like Kerberos or RSA certificates) to provide per-user
access to your window server.  I'd sure like to be able to write
applications on other platforms that connect to the Display PostScript
server on my NeXT, but that's just not possible now.

louie