slacker (s@lack.er) on 1/29/09 wrote:
>
>I explain how this is a problem with virtually any sort of
>metadata, whether it's stuck in file headers, wrapped
>in to folders, inserted in to a xattrs, or shoved in to a
>database.

I ignore your argument, because your argument boils down to

 "some data formats are already insecure, so we might

  as well make all data formats be so, and I'm not

  even listening to your 'external database' suggestion".

I don't buy it. I don't see why you even claim it's an
argument in the first place, and why you think repeating it
makes it any better.

I work with source code. The data format is "secure".
And I've seen what xattrs do to it - they screw with
data that I considered to be mine, and reliable, and turned
it into something unreliable because it was changing my
files behind my back.

I hate applications like that - modifying my data
behind my back. I've told you why. I've told you how the
security implications were just a part of it. You've so
far been totally unable to respond to any of the arguments
in any sane manner.

So let me repeat: using an external database has absolutely
zero downsides compared to EAs:

- It's more reliable than EA's are (example: the
data doesn't go away just because some user unwittingly
rewrites the file).

- It's more secure than EA's are (example: that
same unwitting user won't by mistake expose that external
data that he doesn't know about).

- Yes, it requires you to use a special DB interface, but
hey, how much less convenient is that than using special
EA interfaces, really? It actually works across many
different platforms, so in the end it's likely less work
than EA's, even if EA's appear so convenient due
to the data "automatically" following the file (but not
really, as we have seen).

- And if you really want to make sure that the
extended attributes really always follows the data (which
is a big "if" to begin with), embedding them in the data
stream is still preferable to EA's, because of the
portability issues. Sure, you easily end up with the
same security issues, but that's not inevitable (many
formats really are transparent), and you don't seem to
see that the primary replacement for EA's isn't actually
this case at all, but the external database (which is
much more like EA's in behavior).

So your single argument seems to be that EA's aren't
a security issue. You repeat it over and over, never mind
that I've pointed out that it's a broken argument to begin
with, and wasn't the biggest problem anyway.

Gaah.

Linus