FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: status of OpenBeOS

["Michael Phipps" <mphipps1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>I would argue that way 1 is no more or less secure than way 2. 
>>In fact, way 1 is far *easier* to secure than way 2.
>>Think about it. For both you need real file system permissions (which we 
>>have).
>>For both, you need a secure log in mechanism (which we don't have).
>>For way 2, you need to be absolutely sure that no process can possible access 
>>the memory
>>of any other process. The problem is that the BeOS design precludes that (see 
>>clone_area).
>>
>>The question that I always ask people who ask about multi-user is this:
>>Do you really forsee wanting to have multiple people log in to your OBOS 
>>machine simultaneously?
>>If so, what would they use for a client? OBOS? If so, then what you want is 
>>really file sharing. 
>>Remember that our focus is a *workstation* OS. :-) 
>>
>I would love to have better terminal capabilities, and better posix 
>support. So that most unix terminal applications work without to much 
>adjustements. I really like the *nix way of working in a terminal, for 
>some tasks. And for others, i prefer a GUI. linux/bsd, etc, do very well 
>on the terminal part, but the GUI is really not perfect. BeOS did very 
>well on the GUI, but the terminal part needs some improvement. I just 
>want the best from both worlds: Good GUI, a decent unix in the terminal ...

R5 has nearly everything that most Unixes have, in terms of terminal.
The two biggest lacks are sockets == file descriptor and mmap. We are 
addressing both of those. If there is more missing that I am not aware of, 
would you 
email me offlist?

>Also a full security model a la "option 2" is pretty usefull, i think. 
>At least, "option 2" does not limit workstation usage, while "option 1" 
>would make server capabilities very limited. Which is one of  THE good 
>things from unix: it is fully multiuser.

Option 2 does limit workstation usage. At the very least, it complicates it.
Multiple users log in (option 1) is a lot easier than option 2 to build.
I just can't see a real need for it, compared to the work required. You are 
better off with a BSD box for terminal logins.