Ted.Tang@f3.n121.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Ted Tang) (11/21/88)
JB> By the way, do you know of any object-only BBS programs JB>that are in the public domain? I can't think of any. Opus CBCS is one. Only object code is available and it is completely free. What makes this BBS software work, preventing backdoor paranoia, is that the author, Wynn Wagner III, has plastered his reputation on it. The other side of the coin is BBS software with source code. I remember an RBBS backdoor that someone had installed and distributed because source code was available to work with. Then I have heard stories about unauthorized PC Board systems getting broken into by the authors because they have left a backdoor just for that purpose. -- Ted Tang - via FidoNet node 1:121/1 UUCP: ...!uwvax!geowhiz!circle!3!Ted.Tang ARPA: Ted.Tang@f3.n121.z1.FIDONET.ORG
ads4@tank.uchicago.edu (adam david sah) (11/26/88)
In article <145.2386CCD9@circle.UUCP> Ted.Tang@f3.n121.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Ted Tang) writes: > [deleted stuff] >Opus CBCS is one. Only object code is available and it is completely free. >What makes this BBS software work, preventing backdoor paranoia, is that the >author, Wynn Wagner III, has plastered his reputation on it. > >The other side of the coin is BBS software with source code. I remember an >RBBS backdoor that someone had installed and distributed because source code >was available to work with. > >Then I have heard stories about unauthorized PC Board systems getting broken >into by the authors because they have left a backdoor just for that purpose. This backdoor mania is both well-founded and silly at the same time. If you choose your software well - there won't be a problem... I use Searchlight BBs software, and I'm decent friends with the author, Frank Larosa- and I very much doubt that he'd ever put a backdoor into SLBBS, even it would be very easy for him to do this... but if it ever came out about this (which it would if it were ever used- he'd be KILLED by hundreds of rabid sysops in the NY metro area!!! The point is that as people you should be ABLE to trust... On the other hand, you still should choose your software well- since it would not even be IMPROBABLE that a 14-year old programmer would put a backdoor into a bbs program he writes... Frankly, I'm much more concerned about bugs than backdoors, which can be MUCH more vicious (doors that crash to a DOS prompt when incorrectly configured... etc etc etc...). Which brings up the point that doors are much more likely to be the objects of backdoors... -A.Sah'88 SysOp, The Art of Science BBs 312-752-6104
pozar@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Pozar) (11/27/88)
If people are interested in a fully PUBLIC DOMAIN and full
SOURCE CODE availible for fido style BBS's with full networking
drop into Tom Jenning's BBS (1:125/111 415-764-1629) for a copy
of "Puppy".
Tim
--
...sun!hoptoad!\ Tim Pozar
>fidogate!pozar Fido: 1:125/406
...lll-winken!/ PaBell: (415) 788-3904
USNail: KKSF / 77 Maiden Lane / San Francisco CA 94108