Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

I recall that during the support cycle for BL2 we had some discussions 
about security while on the network (i.e., on the internet, for most of 
us).  It was advised at that time to create a non-root user for things 
like browsing the web.  Under BL3, however, the possibility of creating 
non-root users has been removed.  First question regarding BL3, then, is 
whether there are justifiable security concerns with being on the web 
while running as root?  Do you have any solutions for this, if there are, 
Steven?  Have you looked at sudo and considered whether it might offer any 
solution?

The question has occurred to me as I've fiddled around with BL3.  Now, 
however, I'm faced with a situation of needing to set up a computer at the 
U library where I'll work over the summer (in a study carrel assigned to 
me).  I could of course install BL3 on a machine and put it there.  It 
would be on the U LAN, having a real internet IP among the range of those 
owned by the U and could, of course, remain on continuously.  Even if web 
browsing as root were relatively safe, I don't think I'd want a machine 
with a public IP and root user logged in to be running unattended for long 
periods.  Also, I might want to set up an ssh server or maybe even try out 
FreeNX on the machine in question, which could introduce further security 
risks.  Is BL3 the wrong OS to put on this machine?

Finally, I've succeeded in installing Win98 under BL3 qemu.  I'll post in 
more detail on that in a subsequent message, and provide a link to 
screenshots.  My report on naim--which I was also able to (mostly 
unsuccessfully) try out--will likely follow that.

James