SELinux Understanding

[Karl Larsen]

Tim wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-10-12 at 14:38 -0600, Karl Larsen wrote:
>   
>> FILE LABELING
>>        All files, directories, devices ... have a security context/label 
>> associated with them.  These context are stored in the extended  
>> attributes of the file system.  Problems with SELinux often arise from 
>> the file system being mislabeled. This can be caused by booting the 
>> machine with a non selinux kernel.  If you see an error message containing 
>> file_t, that is usually a good indicator that you have a serious  
>> problem with file system labeling.
>>
>> Now I have used some of these ideas today. The list suggested and I did. 
>> But this stuff is not the kind of thing a person not using Linux in 
>> business wants to know about.
>>     
>
> Well, how many business users, that aren't computer savvy enthusiasts do
> you expect to be dual-booting with different kernels?  You'll probably
> find that not-only do many business users not do anything near the
> complexity of that, many don't even bother with installing any updates.
>
> Normally, you can expect SELinux to be something that just happens in
> the background, along with a thousand other things that you don't know
> about your computer.  Also, there's a plethora of *other* things that
> can go wrong that can be just as flumuxing to the user.
>
>   
>> So why would a desktop user ever want to run SELinux :-)
>>     
>
> For added security.  This has been discussed to death, and not too long
> ago.  Go back and read the old threads about it.
>
> The sky is NOT falling.
>
>   
    I agree with what you say. There is a whole lot I do not understand. 
But by necessity I have become well versed about SELinux and have it 
turned off. So this is one thing that is not going to cause the next 
time my linux fails.



-- 

	Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
	Linux User
	#450462   http://counter.li.org.