Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!dan-hankins
From: dan-hankins@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The ultimate fix!!!
Message-ID: <9880@cup.portal.com>
Date: 9 Oct 88 05:44:53 GMT
References: <681@zehntel.UUCP> <3084@hermes.ai.mit.edu> <4197@thorin.cs.unc
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 67
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.5361

In article <2762@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:

>> 2. PD/Shareware that comes without source, particularly shareware.
>
>On *UNIX*?

No.  On any system.  This is comp.sys.amiga, after all.  Agreed, Unix
systems have a bunch of different architectures, so Unix code tends to be
distributed as source.  But this is the exception rather than the rule.

Amigas have a common architecture.  A fair amount of Amiga code sharing
goes on via sneakernet;  after all, even 2400 baud is pretty slow to
transmit some packages.  And people who supply BBS systems out of their own
pockets often don't have the kind of money required to support Amiga
software.  So much Amiga sharing goes on via disk trading and copying. 
Take the Fish collection as an example.

I'm worried about my *Amiga*.

IBM System/370 machines have a common architecture, tend to be heavily
networked, and tend to do a lot of OCO code sharing.

Same for VAX/VMS, Sun, and so on.

>> 3. Commercial OCO (object-code-only) distribution
>
>Yeh, but if you get bit by this you know where to look.

You must not buy much software.  Also, viruses with long incubation periods
can start from *one* package and infect your entire system within a couple
of months, altering file dates so that it is difficult to be sure of the
date of infection.  Six months later, when your system blows up,
*everything* is infected.  Still know where to look?

>> How often do people demonstrate programs for each other?  A friend comes
>> over and sticks his disk in your machine to show you a neat program.
>
>On UNIX? Generally he mails me a shar and I break it up and compile it.

No.  On machines in general.  The universe does not consist solely of Unix
machines.

>We're talking UNIX here.

First of all, no, I wasn't discussing only Unix.

Second, all it takes is for one infected file to get in, and then your
entire system is infected.  Maybe *you* read the source code for every
program you get over the net, but I'll bet a virtual cup of coffee that not
everyone does.  Maybe *you* insist on seeing source code for everything,
but again I'll bet not everyone else does.

Third, it is possible for there to exist a virus which does the following:

* gets control
* infects the source code of each .c program over a certain size that has
  any writes done to it (like when you edit it).
* when that .c program is recompiled, it is recompiled with a virus
  embedded in it.  The same one that infected it in the first place.
* when you share source, you then infect others.  Across the net.  Like I
  said before, how many people take the time to read *in detail* the source
  code of programs they get over the net?  As you implied, the only reason
  for distributing programs with source is because they won't run on the
  target machine unless recompiled.


Dan Hankins