Re: Password encryption method

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 22, 2007 at 20:25:48 +0100,
> Bertram Scharpf <lists(at)bertram-scharpf(dot)de> wrote:
> >
> > What I want to do is the following:
> >
> > 1. Login in from a program on a client as a particualar user.
>
> For this case you shouldn't need to do anything tricky as long as the user
> is login in as themselves. Just prompt the user for their password and use it
> when you open a connection to the database. If you are trying to have the
> program login without the user being able to steal or borrow the credentials,
> then you have a serious design flaw.

I'm quite certain I missed the start of this thread, but just looking at
the above paragraph as it stands:

Design flaw? Perhaps an _incomplete_ design, but it's only a design flaw
if not finished off properly. One way to do this cleanly is to use a
program that has the suid bit set so it runs as the program's file owner
(optionally group), and this program accesses the password and provides
the database access.

Richard

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Richard Troy, Chief Scientist
Science Tools Corporation
510-924-1363 or 202-747-1263
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