Re: SLFS book chapter proposals

On Sat, Dec 27, 2003 at 01:55:40PM -0500, Robert Day wrote:
> 
> Other texts out there deal with securing an existing app, or an
> existing distro..  what I think we should look at is security from the
> ground up, with as much security as we can fit in without hindering
> the system to the point that it cannot be used for much.

Total agreement. But as far as hindering, I think the instructions
should allow for building a production server, with many of the steps
marked in some way to show trade off. For instance, remote logging. Not
needed for a one box network. :) There are certainly others as well.
Though many will come with so little loss of functionality or
performance that they should be marked for every use. That's what I've
been thinking about the last couple of days. A rating system of how
intrusive each technique is. Not in the install, as some will be quite
complicated, but in the use of the system with said technique in place.

> That point alone I think describes SLFS as I think it should be.

> Another security text that expands on what is already there the
> community does not really need.

Absolutely.

> What the Linux world is missing, or what I have never seen, is a
> document that describes, and teaches, security at it's lowest level,
> and is complete as it can be. If we can create a document that teaches
> the LFS folks, and the rest of the crowds, Security in Linux and how
> to properly impliment it from the ground to the applications, then we
> will have something to be proud of, and something that the community
> at large can really use.
> 
> That's where I see it anyhow..   there appears to be some digression
> in this dept, so we're gonna have to get that settled before we can do
> anything else.  

We agree on overall goals, as you have stated exactly what my vision is.
We just disagree on implementation.

-- 
Archaic

A ``decay in the social contract'' is detectable; there is a growing
feeling, particularly among middle-income taxpayers, that they are not
getting back, from society and government, their money's worth for taxes
paid. The tendency is for taxpayers to try to take more control of their
finances ..

- IRS Strategic Plan, (May 1984)

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