Subject: A loose framework for the UNIX gateway.

From: James Powell <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 1992 18:24:08 -0700

[email-masked] (Michael Richardson) writes:

>On May 8,  7:20pm, James Powell wrote:
>} I am indeed interested in a command level (shell and beyond) door.
>
>  You say you need this for running newsreaders and error correcting
>file transfer protocols --- I assume that you mean you want to drop
>the player into rn, or sz, etc..  right? 

:nods.

>  You want an 8 bit clean connection --- do you need a pty in between,
>or would a stream pipe with ldterm or ttcompat do the trick (do you
>need /dev/tty in other words)... Hmm. I just realized I haven't a clue
>how to *make* a stream pipe under SunOS or even if I can. socketpair()
>isn't what I want. Onwards....

Having just discovered the Streams package, it is difficult for me to say
whether such a beast would work.  My understanding is that Streams is available
only on System V and System V derived UNIXi.  Is that correct?  If so, it
that would make a more generic solution more desirable. 

>} Michael Richardson writes:
>} Mike Gallaher <[email-masked]> writes:
>} >Write a program that logs into the moo as a player, and sits in
>} >a room waiting for people to come in and say, for instance,
>} >"ls", to which it would respond
>
>  Neither of these give you want you want -- access from the external
>program to the users' connection. I presume that they are either

I agree ... while they could interact with the user, they would not be suited
to the rigors of VT100 or ZMODEM.  How's this for a framework? Please excuse
any fuzziness, I'm still trying to grok that great twisted thang that is
UNIX networking.

User
  |
Telnet
  | <socketpair>
MOO Server
  | <socketpair>
Process Server
  | <inetd-constructed socketpair>
/dev/ptty
  | 
trn/sz

Roger Crew writes:
>A quick remark about the allowing-system-commands-in-MOO debate:
>
>The concerns for security should not be understated.  On LambdaMOO, despite
>being fairly security conscious from the beginning, we've had, in the past few
>months, no less than 3 instances of players successfully cracking themselves
>wizard bits.  Granted, there were no instances in the previous year and a half
>that I know of, but who knows?
>[...]
>BTW - of these instances, only one affects the LambdaCore distribution.
>Details available as soon as those actually running such a beast in public
>(is GodNet the only one? --- archwizardly types should send me email) 
>get a chance to apply the patch.

A sobering advisory. I did not mean to poo-poo the importance of security 
within MOO, but rather to discard it as a reason for not opening the UNIX 
gateway. Have the patches been applied to the LambdaCore distribution? 
More generally, is it possible to install new LambdaCore releases into extant 
DBs?
 
>Meanwhile, on an entirely different subject:
>
>\begin{flame}

Halleluja!
  -James-

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From: Clay Luther <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 1992 19:40:43 -0700

> that would make a more generic solution more desirable. 

I could not help but find this comment borderline amusing.  I hadn't realized
that System V was not generic.

Now, back to moochat...

-- 
Clay W. Luther                  [email-masked]
System Manager                  Center for Network Neuroscience
University of North Texas       PO Box 5218 Denton, Texas 76203
817/565-3896,3472               aka. Malraux@GodNet (Bushashuru!)

---

From: Tanya Louise Daum <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 1992 21:05:07 -0700

> that System V was not generic.

	And trust you, in your infinite wisdom to point it out to us *all*
> Now, back to moochat...
	Yes, please, back to moochat, and enough of your infantile attacks on
everyone you've decided to think is inferior to you.

	Opiate@LambdaMOO 	BigBrother@Airstrip One
	-----------------------------------------------

---

From: Pavel Curtis <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 May 1992 09:22:03 -0700

Have the patches been applied to the LambdaCore distribution? 

Not yet.  I will see if I can instead produce a new Core DB sometime today.

   More generally, is it possible to install new LambdaCore releases into
   extant DBs?

Not with existing technology.

	Pavel