hostid gives identical values on all FC machines

[Aleksandar Milivojevic]

Matthew Saltzman wrote:
> And for a license manager that depends on it to identify the machine,
> there's the problem of users copying /etc/hostid from machine to machine,
> not to mention the fact that there's nothing stopping the distro from
> generating the same /etc/hostid for every installation.

On Sparc, hostid is stored in chip.  But you can reprogram it, and 
assigne whatever hostid you want.  This is preatty handy if you have 
software licensed from comapany that doesn't exit anymore, and you need 
to move it to new box :-)

> Conclusion: Using the hostid to identify a machine is silly.  Why do
> proprietary licensing systems persist in doing so?

Any copy-protection or licensing scheme is silly and more or less 
easilly brakeable (there's a few paragraphs about this in Bruce 
Schneier's book "Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked 
World").  Basically, they are made to prevent grandma Betty (who first 
sat infront of the computer in her late 70s, and is using it to send 
pictures of cute Disney creatures to her grandchildren) from copying the 
software, not to prevent a person with medium level of technical knowledge.

-- 
Aleksandar Milivojevic <amilivojevic at pbl.ca>    Pollard Banknote Limited
Systems Administrator                           1499 Buffalo Place
Tel: (204) 474-2323 ext 276                     Winnipeg, MB  R3T 1L7