From: Jarkko Hietaniemi <jhi@iki.fi>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 19:49:16 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: Admonish against assuming A^HUNIX fs/uid/gid semantics.
X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=a1667ba3e2ac427cafdd1bccd0d92240343e06a7;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git

Admonish against assuming A^HUNIX fs/uid/gid semantics.

p4raw-id: //depot/perl@13479
---

diff --git a/pod/perlport.pod b/pod/perlport.pod
index 3b11a4f..34e9dab 100644
--- a/pod/perlport.pod
+++ b/pod/perlport.pod
@@ -267,6 +267,13 @@ S<RISC OS> perl can emulate Unix filenames with C</> as path
 separator, or go native and use C<.> for path separator and C<:> to
 signal filesystems and disk names.
 
+Don't assume UNIX filesystem access semantics: that read, write,
+and execute are all the permissions there are, and even if they exist,
+that their semantics (for example what do r, w, and x mean on
+a directory) are the UNIX ones.  The various UNIX/POSIX compatibility
+layers usually try to make interfaces like chmod() work, but sometimes
+there simply is no good mapping.
+
 If all this is intimidating, have no (well, maybe only a little)
 fear.  There are modules that can help.  The File::Spec modules
 provide methods to do the Right Thing on whatever platform happens
@@ -538,13 +545,31 @@ more efficient that the first.
 
 Most multi-user platforms provide basic levels of security, usually
 implemented at the filesystem level.  Some, however, do
-not--unfortunately.  Thus the notion of user id, or "home" directory,
+not-- unfortunately.  Thus the notion of user id, or "home" directory,
 or even the state of being logged-in, may be unrecognizable on many
 platforms.  If you write programs that are security-conscious, it
 is usually best to know what type of system you will be running
 under so that you can write code explicitly for that platform (or
 class of platforms).
 
+Don't assume the UNIX filesystem access semantics: the operating
+system or the filesystem may be using some ACL systems, which are
+richer languages than the usual rwx.  Even if the rwx exist,
+their semantics might be different.
+
+(From security viewpoint testing for permissions before attempting to
+do something is silly anyway: if one tries this, there is potential
+for race conditions-- someone or something might change the
+permissions between the permissions check and the actual operation.
+Just try the operation.)
+
+Don't assume the UNIX user and group semantics: especially, don't
+expect the C<$E<lt>> and C<$E<gt>> (or the E<$(> and E<$)) to work
+for switching identities (or memberships).
+
+Don't assume set-uid and set-gid semantics. (And even if you do,
+think twice: set-uid and set-gid are a known can of security worms.)
+
 =head2 Style
 
 For those times when it is necessary to have platform-specific code,