Executable memory: further programs that fail

[Gerard Milmeister]

Some further programs that work only when /proc/sys/kernel/exec-shield
is set to 0 or setarch i386 is used:
chicken
scm
mjolner beta system

and I expect quite a number of other programs.
If a program works flawlessly on Debian, SUSE, Mandrake etc...
but doesn't on Fedora, I would consider this an incompatibility or, some
might even say, a bug. I propose to disable exec-shield by default,
however the feature may otherwise be, and giving the user (via a GUI
perhaps) the option to "harden" the system. Maybe when exec-shield is
incorporated into the standard kernel, and other distributions use it,
and thereby software developers are forced to adapt their programs, it
could be switched on by default. Maybe some of you will say, that the
failing programs are not widely used anyway or are old, or both, imagine
someone wanting to use them and asking themselves why it does work on
Debian, ... but not on Fedora, and coming to obvious conclusions.

Regards,
Gérard

-- 
Gérard Milmeister
Tannenrauchstrasse 35
8038 Zürich
gemi at bluewin.ch