RFC: Removing file(1)+libmagic(3) from the base system

Greg 'groggy' Lehey grog at FreeBSD.org
Thu May 24 01:36:44 UTC 2007


On Wednesday, 23 May 2007 at 12:59:33 -0700, Alfred Perlstein wrote:
> * Daniel Eischen <deischen at freebsd.org> [070523 11:05] wrote:
>> On Wed, 23 May 2007, Colin Percival wrote:
>>
>>> FreeBSD architects and file(1) maintainer,
>>>
>>> I'd like to remove file(1) and libmagic(3) from the FreeBSD base system
>>>
>>> Can anyone make a strong argument for keeping this code in the base system?
>>
>> Yes, because other OS's have it (file) in their base, and because
>> it is a POSIX-defined utility.  Please consider this a strong no.
>
> I agree with Daniel.

<aol>
Me too!
</aol>

One of the most stupid things I know in the Microsoft space is to
identify files by external features such as their name; IIRC this has
opened the way for trojans such as executables posing as images, etc.
The obvious alternative is the "UNIX way": identify the files by their
content, not their name.  And that's precisely the purpose of
file(1).  Removing it seems counterproductive.

Greg
--
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