[MUD-Dev] Scripting languages

[Kwon J. Ekstrom]

Lars Duening wrote:
> On Monday, June 30, 2003, at 11:07 PM, Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes wrote:

>> All of the LPMuds I've played on only allowed wizards to edit
>> anything.

> Considering that most wizards are recruited from the playerbase,
> they are untrusted admins at best.

Considering that they were raised to the position of wizard, it
shows at least some trust.

>> If you don't trust someone, my first instinct is to not give them
>> scripting access.  If you do give them scripting access, they can
>> break your system if they so choose.  Making a custom language
>> won't stop that.  Only social solutions will work.

> *nod* But a custom language implementation can help enforcing the
> social solutions by raising the bar for wannabe crackers and
> limiting the possible damage.

I personally don't see how writing a custom language helps much
against malicious code.  Using Rhino, I've managed to create a
fairly secure system without writing my own.  Including allowing
more actions as the user is given more permission ("trusted more").

As far as code access goes, I'm able to control exactly what objects
a script can instantiate, and the extent of which a script can
modify existing objects.  There's not a whole lot more to control.

Sure, there's infinite loops and the like, but it doesn't take long
to detect those, halt the script execution and disable the script.

That said, I've spent far less time writing up the security systems
than it would have taken to write a language from scratch, and it
runs alot faster than it probably would have otherwise.

Additionally, there comes a point when you have too much security,
yes, prevent malicious users where possible, but not at the expense
of productive users.

-- Kwon J. Ekstrom
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