Oh please don't inject (more) noise into this1 Doing ANYTHING involves
running kerel space code somewhere. It is still possible to talk
meaningfully about:
- opening a publicly readable file in /proc to get some info,
which will run some kernel code (which can presumably be trusted;
if you don't trust your kernel you have a serious problem)
versus
- running a setuid binary (however audited) to get the info; said
binary may have bugs, security holes, race conditions etc; it may be
hacked post boot (no so easy to do to the live kernel image), etc
Further, binaries which grovel in /dev/kmem tend to have to be kept in sync
with the kernel; in-kernel code is fundamentally in sync.
-- Cameron Simpson, DoD#743 cs@zip.com.au http://www.zip.com.au/~cs/Although it does not mindfully keep guard, in the small mountain fields the scarecrow does not stand in vain. - trans. Bukkoku Kokushi - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/