[TUHS] shell escapes in utilities
Clem Cole
clemc at ccc.com
Thu Aug 3 00:20:54 AEST 2023
On Tue, Aug 1, 2023 at 10:59 PM Grant Taylor via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> I routinely use :'<,'>!sort or some similar external filter program on
> lines in the file that I'm working with.
>
No doubt. Pretty much the intended use. I've been doing that since I first
learned ed(1) and discovered I could do the same. It always seemed
natural and handy [sort(1), tr(1), and fmt(1) are probably the filters I
use the most over the years -- as I pretty much have the switches for the
same burned into the ROMs in my fingers]. If I had grown up with GUI's, I
suspect I might have used cut/paste in some manner to do the same thing
(for me, a less natural sequence).
As Ron points out, in using more(1) on the RS/6000 in maintenance mode,
shell escape on a multi-tasking system opens up some interesting security
paths/unintended side effects. Security is thought to get right. So many
places where good ideas can bite you when abused. It does not make it a
bad idea. But you need to consider other uses that might not behave the
way you planned.
This brings us back to Roz's warning to Mike: "*Always Watching.*"
[image: AlwaysWatching.png]
ᐧ
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