Re: RFC/PATCH: Random pid generation

Peter Samuelson (peter@cadcamlab.org)
13 Jan 2000 14:00:06 -0600


[Alan Cox]
> > Random pids just slow the process down. Its an argument for writing
> > decent code.

Chris Evans <chris@ferret.lmh.ox.ac.uk> writes:
> Random pids in a 32 bit space would take an average of ~1 random
> number generation to calculate per fork. That can't be too slow can
> it?

By "slow the process down" Alan was referring to the process of
exploiting a /tmp race. You didn't eliminate the race, in other words,
you just obfuscated it.

> WRT the security issues; predictable pids have always assisted the
> cause of the cracker. Any extra difficulty we can generate is always
> useful.

Oh no, not the solar thread again....

Peter

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