Xref: utzoo comp.unix.wizards:6031 comp.arch:3096
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!hc!hi!kurt
From: kurt@hi.unm.edu (Kurt Zeilenga)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.arch
Subject: Re: Jerry Pournelle on UNIX (From BYTE)
Message-ID: <22611@hi.unm.edu>
Date: 9 Jan 88 03:51:47 GMT
References: <1495@osiris.UUCP> <2126@haddock.ISC.COM> <1497@osiris.UUCP> <1972@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM>
Reply-To: kurt@hi.unm.edu (Kurt Zeilenga)
Organization: U. of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Lines: 16

In article <1972@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> greg@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Greg Noel) writes:
>Yes, a write-protected root is a trivial one-line change to the kernel.  But
>that's not what we were considering; it still needs to have the functionality
>of a normal root -- that is, all the things in /etc could still be "updated,"
>for example; but how this could be done is not clear.  The Air Force kernel
>moved all modifiable files off the root file system, but it was a maintenance
>nightmare to keep track of all the programs that knew about the modifiable
>files and fix them every time there was a new release.
>-- 
>-- Greg Noel, NCR Rancho Bernardo   Greg.Noel@SanDiego.NCR.COM  or  greg@ncr-sd

We use symbolic links from /etc to /usr/etc so that root is "static".   Could
you use them instead of modifying files?

-- 
	Kurt (zeilenga@hc.dspo.gov)