Re: CFS and Linux (fwd)

Forwarded message:

> Subject: Re: CFS and Linux 
> Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 11:15:40 -0500
> From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
> 
> Alice B. Cohen writes:
> anonymous-remailer@shell.portal.com writes:
> > >  1: please make it install 'out-of-the-box' on Linux.
> > 
> > AT&T's refusal to support CFS and other so-called "secure" software
> > under Linux is typical and to be expected.
> 
> God, you are an obnoxious prick.
> 

Ditto.

> First of all, this is Matt Blaze's pet project, not a product of
> AT&T. It is given away for free and you should be happy to get it at
> all -- no one is obligated to give you a gift. Have you mailed him a
> Linux machine to do his testing on? Why do you assume he even has one?
> As it happens, he doesn't, and probably doesn't want to go through the
> hassle of paying for a computer and putting Linux on it.
> 
> Be happy he's given you anything at all.
> 
> Perry
> 

If you are going to do it, do it right the first time.

Second, I really doubt Blaze has a problem obtaining access to computing
power and a $25 CD should be within his budget.

Merry Christmas.

Jim Choate writes:
> 
> > First of all, this is Matt Blaze's pet project, not a product of
> > AT&T. It is given away for free and you should be happy to get it at
> > all -- no one is obligated to give you a gift. Have you mailed him a
> > Linux machine to do his testing on? Why do you assume he even has one?
> > As it happens, he doesn't, and probably doesn't want to go through the
> > hassle of paying for a computer and putting Linux on it.
> > 
> > Be happy he's given you anything at all.
> 
> If you are going to do it, do it right the first time.
> 
> Second, I really doubt Blaze has a problem obtaining access to computing
> power and a $25 CD should be within his budget.

Setting up and doing work on a new operating system is *WORK*. It
takes time. It takes space in your lab or office. Maybe he just
doesn't feel like spending that time, effort, and lab budget. Why
should he? CFS is a GIFT. It isn't a product. Maybe if you paid
someone to maintain a Linux version you would have one, but you aren't
paying a penny. Quit looking a gift horse in the mouth.

.pm

On Sat, 23 Dec 1995, Perry E. Metzger wrote:

< elided>
> 
> Setting up and doing work on a new operating system is *WORK*. It
> takes time. It takes space in your lab or office. Maybe he just
> doesn't feel like spending that time, effort, and lab budget. Why
> should he? CFS is a GIFT. It isn't a product. Maybe if you paid
> someone to maintain a Linux version you would have one, but you aren't
> paying a penny. Quit looking a gift horse in the mouth.
> 
> .pm
> 

I concur it is work!!!! and very time consuming. And it also takes time 
away from other projects, and if you are like most of us we don't have 
enough time for our current projects.

Dan

> 
> 
> Jim Choate writes:
> > 
> > > First of all, this is Matt Blaze's pet project, not a product of
> > > AT&T. It is given away for free and you should be happy to get it at
> > > all -- no one is obligated to give you a gift. Have you mailed him a
> > > Linux machine to do his testing on? Why do you assume he even has one?
> > > As it happens, he doesn't, and probably doesn't want to go through the
> > > hassle of paying for a computer and putting Linux on it.
> > > 
> > > Be happy he's given you anything at all.
> > 
> > If you are going to do it, do it right the first time.
> > 
> > Second, I really doubt Blaze has a problem obtaining access to computing
> > power and a $25 CD should be within his budget.

I am annoyed. Matt Blaze has no obligation to produce CFS for free, let
alone a version for dummies. And boy, are you a dummy. As someone who
has hacked away at CFS for a long time now on several platforms,
including linux, I can state that the issues of porting CFS to linux
were trivial and involved a one line sed on the rpcgen output. The more
recent versions of linux don't even require this.  Further, Matt is
hardly the government/corporate lacky that you suggest him to be. Why
don't you read some of his papers before you show your technical and
social ignorance? Get a life.

-- 
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
|Julian Assange                    | "if you think the United  States has    |
|FAX: +61-3-9819-9066              |  has stood still, who built the largest |
|EMAIL: proff@suburbia.net         |  shopping centre in the world?" - Nixon |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

> If you are going to do it, do it right the first time.
> 
> Second, I really doubt Blaze has a problem obtaining access to computing
> power and a $25 CD should be within his budget.
> 

What, exactly, is your complaint?  I'm honestly confused.

Please see my previous message on this subject for an explanation of
the situation regarding CFS with respect to Linux.

I'm not "refusing to support" anything.  I want to do whatever it takes
to get CFS (and other applications of strong cryptography) as widely
deployed as possible.  I am unwilling to allow supporting CFS to become
a full-time job, however, and I'm not going to apologize for that.

I have a Linux machine, in fact.  But I've tried to run CFS on it and it
seems to work fine.  I've not investigated further because that seems like
a poor use of my time given the large number of Linux experts (who know far
more than I ever will about the vagaries of the various Linux releases) who
have not come up with a satisfactory, general patch that runs on all the
various Linux platforms.  The problem seems to be that some versions of Linux
include an rpcgen that produces non-standard output.  I don't have one
of those versions, however, so I've not encountered this "problem" myself.

Again, if you want to see CFS, or any other software that I distribute, run
on some platform that I don't have, you are welcome to send me patches that
I will happily wrap into the distribution (as long as it doesnt break the
other supported platforms).  Until you do that, you have nothing to whine
about.

-matt