One cute hack for MacOS X (... or nice internet protocol helper hacks...)

[Dave Cragg]

On 3 Jan 2006, at 20:38, Chipp Walters wrote:

>
> I'm just not a fan of securemode, especially if one is trying to  
> create a real application which runs from the web.

I agree with you there. It's limitations are pretty crushing.

Your idea is interesting. But I'm not comfortable with the idea of  
registering "safe" stacks. And I'm also not sure how stacks can be  
determined as "safe". I see there being two types of "unsafe" stack:   
those with malicious intent and those which are just badly  
programmed. Both are capable of damage.  So I'm still hoping for a  
way to prevent stacks from doing damage, but without the current  
secureMode limitations.

One idea I've toyed with is to always run the "stackRunner/player"  
app in secureMode, but have a "helper app"  which runs in parallel,  
and which is not in secure mode. The main app would communicate with  
the helper app over a socket using a private protocol. The helper app  
would perform a limited number of actions that secureMode prohibits.  
For example, write to a "cache" folder, launch a limited number of  
applications, run some predefined shell commands, etc. (I'm thinking  
of a variety of "stack runner" type apps that seve different  
purposes, so the "allowed" actions might vary among implemetations.)  
The main app would have an API which is open to other stacks and  
which would allow them to take advantage of the helper app.

I believe the Dreamcard Player uses a helper app like this to store  
preferences, even when in secureMode. But I haven't looked into it in  
great detail.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has tried to implement  
something like this. Right now it's only an idea in my head, and  
before having a go I'd appreciate any advice/warnings of possible  
pitfalls.

Cheers
Dave