Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!brunix!sgf
From: sgf@cs.brown.edu (Sam Fulcomer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Obtaining a unique, "unchangeable" number associated with an SGI workstation
Summary: It can't be done...
Keywords: copy protection, hostids, unique identifiers
Message-ID: <24945@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 10 Jan 90 16:20:08 GMT
References: <12817@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <47918@sgi.sgi.com>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Reply-To: sgf@cs.brown.edu (Sam Fulcomer)
Distribution: na
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Lines: 18

In article <47918@sgi.sgi.com> wiltse@oceana.esd.sgi.com (Wiltse Carpenter) writes:
>In article <12817@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>, ams@fourier.Princeton.EDU (Andrew Simms) writes:
>> ...they would like to obtain a
>> read-only number (such as a motherboard serial number) that
>> could be used as a key to operate the software only on that
>> 	to run on machines without ethernet boards.
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>The sysid(3C) call returns a machine identifier string that is unique
>for all SGI machines.  The implementation is somewhat different on the

Well, yes, unique unless someone goes to the trouble of changing getsysid()
in the kernel. I have yet to see a Unix-copy-protection scheme that is 
foolproof. The best approach involves additional hardware like a dongle, 
but unless the dongling is implemented correctly it can still be spoofed.

The best copy protection is quality software at a reasonable price.

sgf@cfm.brown.edu