[cap-talk] What sparked interest in capabilities

[Pierre THIERRY]

I was participating, mostly as a lurker because it was way too low-level
and abstract for me a that time, in the Next Generation Hurd mailing
list, where at some point it was decided that the level of both
flexibility and security they ultimately desired could only be obtained
with capabilities.

The very concept of capability-based security first dazzled me, and
through the discussions on the hurd-ng list, I had a series of "Haha!"
moments about what capabilities are and what they make possible. I
remember telling friends of mine with passion how secure a
capability-based email client would be, and how many current threats,
like worms and viruses, could be far less harmful than they are.

I then read most of Norm Hardy's "Capability Theory by Sound Bytes", a
bunch of papers and essays about EROS and some material at erights.org.

I'm still interested in capabilities for probably two main reasons:

  1. They seem to be the solution to an awful lot of problems I had in
  my use of computers. They make it possible to have systems that are
  both incredibly reliable and incredibly flexible.

  2. They are a beautiful abstraction about security, and I like
  beautiful abstractions.

Quickly,
Pierre THIERRY
-- 
nowhere.man at levallois.eu.org
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