Malware on Wine review

[Chris Robinson]

On Wednesday 25 February 2009 9:22:29 am Vincent Povirk wrote:
> This discussion has been assuming that .exe files are somehow special
> because they are programs

Actually, I'm saying just the opposite. They are *not* special because they 
are programs, and should honor the executable bit just like any other program 
should.

> What we really
> should do is make sure the file manager knows about these types so it
> can apply a consistent policy.

You mean that dolphin, nautilus, konqueror, firefox, kmail, and anything that 
can "open" a file should all be made aware of what the different types of 
files can do? Is it really their responsibility?

IMO, it would be better to just hand off a file to its associated program, 
whether that program is wine, kwrite, firefox, or what-have-you.. the handler 
should know the type of file better than a file manager, and the handler can 
be made to honor the proper permissions much easier and quicker than trying to 
keep all file managers up-to-date.

As an example, suppose Dolphin is made to be aware that exe files are 
programs, and thus restricts opening it with Wine if +x isn't set. A new app 
comes along that does not know anything special about exe files and/or passes 
it off to Wine as the associated program anyway. It becomes popular, and the 
less-technically-inclined people start using it. That puts us right back at 
square one.