Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!jimp From: jimp@cognos.uucp (Jim Patterson) Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: Re: Callable EDT and privs Message-ID: <1962@cognos.UUCP> Date: 10 Dec 87 20:49:12 GMT Article-I.D.: cognos.1962 Posted: Thu Dec 10 15:49:12 1987 References: <8712041340.AA14659@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Reply-To: jimp@cognos.UUCP (Jim Patterson) Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada Lines: 28 In article <8712041340.AA14659@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>writes: > how can I write a privileged >installed program to access callable EDT and not have the privs turned on >when the call to EDT is made. If the person running the program needs >access to a file he could not normally access, the program will have to >turn on the privs just before issuing the call to EDT. This defeats any >security checks made, it seems to me. > >I can't figure out how to call EDT and turn off the privs after the file >has been opened because that operation is transparent to the program. If you want the user to be able to edit a normally protected file, one way to go is to use the EDT file input/output hooks. These are provided to the EDT interface as procedure parameters. If passed, EDT will call these routines to handle file i/o to specific files. See the callable EDT description for full information. It's in the standard DOC set somewhere, but I don't remember just where. Your file i/o routines can enable privileges, open the files needed, and then disable privileges before returning to EDT. Once the file is opened, there's no need to turn privileges on anymore. Since there's no way that your user can enable privileges from within EDT, it remains secure. -- Jim Patterson Cognos Incorporated UUCP:decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!jimp P.O. BOX 9707 PHONE:(613)738-1440 3755 Riverside Drive Ottawa, Ont K1G 3Z4