[DGD] Alternatives to the Kernel model of security...

[Josh Dady]

One way to go about this would be to start with maintaining abstract 
meta-data about entries in the filesystem. This is precisely what the 
MUD I'm associated with doesn't do -- there's a colossal mapping of 
permissions somewhere that the file-access bottle-necks all have to 
check, one way or another.

If I was building "from the ground up", I'd at least consider building 
on DGD's native semantics in layers -- one layer would just add 
properties (which admittedly could still be stored in one colossal 
mapping somewhere) that inherently follow the file to which they're 
attached around. The next layer might implement file permissions, and 
store the needed data using the meta-data API from above, not much 
caring how it works.

Other layers could store other resource limits (i.e., chprop 
rsrc:max-clones=10 spiffy-monster.c), file type (i.e., only files of 
type "LPC" may be compiled), whatever. If your layers are well-defined 
and orthogonal, you might be able to build up quite sophisticated 
semantics this way, one layer at a time.

--
Joshua P. Dady
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