The current de facto file(1) implementation was originally written in the 1980's, which was a very different time. It has been continually maintained since then

The current de facto file(1) implementation was originally written in the 1980's, which was a very different time. It has been continually maintained since then, but it was still holding onto a lot of legacy idioms that have lead to some pretty significant security vulnerabilities in recent times. This is a simple implementation that includes a safer new magic(5) parser and excludes many of the "built-in" parsers that the contemporary file had, i.e: for executable formats, which are probably better examined with specially tools like objdump(1). The original author shared this very fitting sentiment on the news the new file(1)... http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-cvs&m=142989483913635&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-cvs&m=142989483913635&w=2 "The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea." — Ian Darwin The Rime of the Ancient Mariner