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Unix was ahead of its time in its inception, but that same basic design fails to address many of the current challenges we face as software developers and users
by bluetomcat 7y ago
Unix was ahead of its time in its inception, but that same basic design fails to address many of the current challenges we face as software developers and users, hence the proliferation of package managers, the mind-blowing complexity of userland middleware, the thousands of CLI tools each with tens of options and modes.
The simplicity of the basic Unix API means that much of the complexity is shifted elsewhere – in libraries, in middleware, in applications. Moreover, there is considerable overlap of functionality between many of these components.
- legulere 7y agoEven worse is the security model of Unix: Users are considered a threat and are isolated, code is seen as trusted by the user and exploits are not considered. The reality today are single user systems (And even if there are users, like for web services, the Unix user system is not used), where the code often cannot be trusted and almost always is exploitable.
- rebolek 7y agoThe problem is not Unix security model, but that it's not used. Even if there is one physical user, there are/should be tons of others, separated.
- nabla9 7y agoIf that's your worry, look at OpenBSD.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- legulere 7y agoIt's a step in the right direction, but it's not as good as it could be, because it's hindered by compatibility with unix. A native process on its own can't do much harm. Only with syscalls can it access other processes, the network, hardware, files, etc. Executing some random code shouldn't be dangerous.
- pjmlp 7y agoThe Xerox Workstation OSes (Mesa, Mesa/Cedar, Interlisp-D, Smalltalk) were the ones ahead of their time.
- tibbydudeza 7y agoThe "mother of all demos" in 68 by Douglas Engelbart and his team.
- pjmlp 7y agoYep, that even better.