Xref: utzoo comp.unix.wizards:13307 news.sysadmin:1895
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!att!whuts!homxb!ho7cad!hoswjc!wjc
From: wjc@ho5cad.ATT.COM (Bill Carpenter)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: Trojan horse FIX for Rnmail and Pnews
Message-ID: 
Date: 8 Dec 88 19:01:18 GMT
References: <6798@rosevax.Rosemount.COM> <591@auspex.UUCP> <6811@rosevax.Rosemount.COM>
Sender: nuucp@ho7cad.ATT.COM
Reply-To: ho5cad!wjc
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 33
In-reply-to: news@rosevax.Rosemount.COM's message of 7 Dec 88 15:16:06 GMT

In article <6811@rosevax.Rosemount.COM> news@rosevax.Rosemount.COM (News administrator) writes:

:  [discussion of "vi" modeline misfeature]
:  Now for a different question... any other common editors (emacs, etc) with
:  a similar hook?  Any way to disable it?

In GNU emacs there is a similar hazard ("find a file" means, roughly,
fetch it into the editor):

; inhibit-local-variables's value is t
; 
; Documentation:
; *Non-nil means query before obeying a file's local-variables list.
; This applies when the local-variables list is scanned automatically
; after you find a file.  If you explicitly request such a scan with
; M-x normal-mode, there is no query, regardless of this variable.

Alas, the default is nil, meaning that stuff (arbitrary GNU emacs
commands) can happen to you automatically.  On systems where I have an
influence on the installation, I get this put in globally (practically
the only non-standard thing I want in "site-init.el"):

	(setq inhibit-local-variables t)

Any users who are curious about this and/or want to turn it on for
themselves can read about it and set it to nil on their own accord.
BTW, this thing is particularly hazardous to people who use GNU emacs
"rmail" for reading their mail.  You can cause them discomfort from
far, far away.  I've demonstrated this to doubters by sending them
mail that splits their windows vertically when they read it.
--
--
   Bill Carpenter         att!ho5cad!wjc  or  attmail!bill