default search path (was HELP!!! what is wrong with this code? )

Bruce G. Barnett barnett at vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com
Fri Oct 14 21:02:44 AEST 1988


This reminds me of a nit I have about the Unixes we have.
The default path provided by login includes '.' first.

Advantages:
	Naive users get the proper behavior when running programs like 'test'
Disadvantages:
	By default, the user is given a path 'wide open' to Trojan horses.

IMHO I think the default nature should be more 'secure', with the
current working directory last in the search path.

Yes, we could patch every /bin/login, but that is not the point.
Do people think the vendors should change this?
-- 
	Bruce Barnett



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