Re: [PATCH - ping] Don't unlink /dev/null on darwin

[Paul Brook <paul at codesourcery dot com>]

On Tuesday 15 February 2005 00:07, Marcin Dalecki wrote:
> On 2005-02-14, at 19:44, Paul Brook wrote:
> > I know running gcc as root is bad practice,
>
> No it isn't.  It's perfectly legal strategy to save yourself some 
> administrative ornamental hassles on the box under my desk. And this is
> the first and foremost reason there even exists such a thing as a root
> account at all. If you think it's bad practice -
> go ahead there is no need to have a root account in first place from OS
> design point of view.

Sure, running gcc as root is *convenient*.  That doesn't mean it's a good idea 
though. Following your argument I may as well do everything as root. 

As with most security precautions, it wouldn't be a problem in an ideal world. 
However in the real world most software has bugs. Things like not running gcc 
as root help to mitigate them. Remember this thread started because gcc was 
accidentally deleting /dev/null on darwin.

Paul