[cap-talk] Derivative rights

[David Hopwood]

ross mcginnis wrote:
>> From: alan.karp at hp.com
>> To: cap-talk at mail.eros-os.org
>> Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 05:45:12 +0000
>> Subject: Re: [cap-talk] (no subject)
>>
>> ross mcginnis wrote a bunch of stuff I didn't follow about storing chemicals:
>
> I'll give a (hopefully) better example which is the exact analogy of the
> traditional confused deputy below.  But first :
> 
>> The confused deputy problem is not possible if designation and authorization
>> are combined, the defining characteristic of a capability. A file name is not
>> a capability, password or otherwise, because it designates a file but does not
>> authorize access to it.
> 
> This is the crux of the matter.  To me it appears that *any* reference is a cap.


'To be sure I was!' Humpty Dumpty said gaily as she turned it round for him.
'I thought it looked a little queer. As I was saying, that seems to be done
right -- though I haven't time to look it over thoroughly just now -- and
that shows that there are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might
get un-birthday presents --'

'Certainly,' said Alice.

'And only one for birthday presents, you know. There's glory for you!'

'I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't -- till I tell 
you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it 
means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many 
different things.'

   -- Lewis Carroll, /Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There/

-- 
David Hopwood