SUBTERFUGUE 0.2 is available. It's been updated to work with the new 2.4
kernel and also includes a few other bug fixes and improvements. It's
available in source or Debian package form.
As always, feedback is welcome.
--Mike
==============================================================================
README:
SUBTERFUGUE is a framework for observing and playing with the reality of
software; it's a foundation for building tools to do tracing, sandboxing, and
many other things. You could think of it as "strace meets expect."
Here's a short (real) "screenshot" which hints at one of its possible uses:
# sf --trick=SimplePathSandbox:"read=['/'];write=['/dev/tty']" bash
# id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)
# rm -f /etc/passwd
write deny (unlink): '/etc/passwd'
rm: cannot unlink `/etc/passwd': Permission denied
[Translation: Run 'bash' in a sandbox (restricted environment) so that it and
all of the processes it creates can read all files (everything under '/') but
can only write '/dev/tty'. All system calls that read or write to the
filesystem are checked, and the attempt to unlink '/etc/passwd' is
disallowed.]
Disclaimer: SUBTERFUGUE is still fairly alpha. If you run it on a system that
matters and something breaks, you get to keep both pieces. Especially avoid
programs where a loss of state might be disastrous (e.g., fetchmail).
See 'http://subterfugue.org' and the sf(1) man page for more info. See the
file 'NEWS' in the distribution for info on the latest release.
==============================================================================
NEWS:
Version 0.2 ("tiger")
* Fixes to make SUBTERFUGUE work again with the 2.4 kernel. (new system
calls, slightly different wait behaviors, etc)
* Added 'now' and 'delta' flags to TimeWarp trick. Experience the future and
the past!
* New 'herekitty' script to amuse your cat! (Dan Egnor's cool idea)
* FixFlash trick fixes a problem with the Macromedia Flash plugin that causes
Netscape to hang when Flash tries to use /dev/dsp and it's in use.
* The TRACESYSGOOD patch is included in the kernel as of 2.4.0-test10, so
revert to disabling the "wait channel hack" by default. (Only vanilla
2.3.99 through 2.4.0-test9 need it now.)
* Added '--nowall', which allows sf to run somewhat in a degenerate way under
linux 2.2.
* Disable python '-O' flag by default, as it turns off assertion checking,
which is still extremely useful at this point.