Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!iggy.GW.Vitalink.COM!widener!dsinc!syd
From: syd@DSI.COM (Syd Weinstein)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: Re: getting elm to actually use $HOME
Message-ID: <1991May28.190526.8428@DSI.COM>
Date: 28 May 91 19:05:26 GMT
References: <1991May28.170430.1953@s1.msi.umn.edu>
Reply-To: syd@DSI.COM
Organization: Datacomp Systems, Inc.  Huntingdon Valley, PA
Lines: 28

molenda@s1.msi.umn.edu (Jason Molenda) writes:
>Is there some reason why it was not done this way?  Is it a possible
>security risk or somesuch thing?  Will it fail miserably under certain
>cases which I'm not thinking of?
Elm uses the method it does in determining where to find the .elm
directory because of how we decided to handle the tradeoffs between
normal use of Elm, use of Elm when su'd and use of Elm when su'd with
the - flag.

Since nothing in the .elm directory is security related there is no
security risk.

Will anything fail?  Well, when you are su'd, their will be problems
in matching the user id, the user name and the .elm directory, but
that never totally matches anyway.  I'd say its an alternative,
just one we decided not to use.

However, E-mail was not designed for several users sharing the
same account.  That is a security risk, and a risk in trying to
identify which mail is for/from which user.  For that you'd better
be sure your MTA can tell them apart.  Of course, there is no
way to protect the spool files of each user from one another of those
that share the same uid.
-- 
=====================================================================
Sydney S. Weinstein, CDP, CCP                   Elm Coordinator
Datacomp Systems, Inc.                          Voice: (215) 947-9900
syd@DSI.COM or dsinc!syd                        FAX:   (215) 938-0235