[news.admin] Newsgroup security follies, part II

eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond) (07/20/88)

In article <dadJ7#2sFpPf=eric@snark.UUCP>, I wrote:
>As of this morning, the `elegant way' is to bring up 3.0 on your machine.
>Private groups with posting *and reading* authorization check are now a fully
>supported feature of the 3.0 beta;

Patch #3 of the 3.0 news beta distribution slightly modifies the behavior I
described in <dadJ7#2sFpPf=eric@snark.UUCP>. Instead of one FASCIST symbol
enabling both post and read control, with readers setgid and news database
files created locked in both cases, there are now *two* symbols.

FASCIST now has exactly the old behavior of controlling posting access. A new
configuration symbol COMMUNIST enables per-newsgroup control of reading access.
A new tool, locknews(8), permits secure edit of privilege group control entries
in the authorizations file by group `gatekeepers' who need not be the news
administrator.
-- 
      Eric S. Raymond                     (the mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)
      UUCP: ..!{uunet,att,rutgers!vu-vlsi}!snark!eric   Smail: eric@snark.UUCP
      Post: 22 South Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355   Phone: (215)-296-5718