userv
                                       
   Put the security boundary where it ought to be.
   
   userv (pronounced you-serve) is a program which, according to the
   specification, is
   
     a Unix system facility to allow one program to invoke another when
     only limited trust exists between them.
     
   It is a tool for system administrators, who often find themselves with
   a program running as one user which needs to be able to do certain
   things as another user. For example, my machine's news system needs to
   scan my users' newsrcs to ensure that the right newsgroups are
   fetched. Before userv that part of the news system had to run as root,
   and clumsily use `su'.
   
   It is also a component for application authors. For example, imagine a
   version of `cron' which didn't need to run as root, so that a security
   bug in cron would just mean that bad people could get cron jobs to run
   at the wrong times, rather than everyone on the system being able to
   break in completely. Imagine being able to do sophisticated mail
   filtering at delivery time without the mail transfer or delivery
   agents needing to be root.
   
Feedback

   If you are subscribed to userv-discuss please send bug reports there;
   otherwise mail them to userv-bugreports@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
   
Mailinglists

   I have set up mailinglists userv-announce and userv-discuss. The
   announcements list is moderated and will contain only announcements of
   important bugs, new versions, &c. The bug reports address mentioned
   above is also a mailing list; feel free to subscribe to it.
   
   There are [1]archives and subscription web pages, or you can subscribe
   by sending mail containing the word `subscribe' to
   userv-announce-REQUEST@chiark.greenend.org.uk or
   userv-discuss-REQUEST@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
   
Download

   Available for download from [2]chiark.greenend.org.uk are:
     * The [3]current version as a gzipped tarfile.
     * Debian GNU/Linux source and binary packages are available via
       [4]anonymous FTP.
     * All versions distributed so far are also available via
       [5]anonymous FTP.
     * The [6]HTML specification, including [7]notes on how and why to
       use it. The specification is also available as a [8]gzipped
       PostScript file. (The Debiandoc-SGML source for the spec is in the
       software distribution.)
     * The [9]overview diagram as PostScript, or in the original [10]xfig
       format.
     * The [11]changelog as a plain text file.
     * The [12]slides for a talk I gave at the 1998 UKUUG Linux Event in
       Manchester and earlier at the 1998 Linux Kongress in Cologne.
     * A mirror of my CVS repository is available via rsync from
       rsync.chiark.greenend.org.uk::ftp/users/ian/cvs-pub/userv (use FTP
       first to find your way around), or via [13]cvsweb.
       
   userv is also available from the [14]GNU Project FTP servers and their
   [15]mirrors.
   
Copyright and licensing

   userv is Copyright 1996-1999 Ian Jackson.
   
   userv is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
   the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
   Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
   option) any later version.
   
   This program and documentation is distributed in the hope that it will
   be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty
   of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the
   [16]GNU General Public License for more details.
   
   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
   along with userv, or one should be available above; if not, write to
   the [17]Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,
   MA 02111-1307, USA, or email userv-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   [18]Ian Jackson / [19]userv-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk; more
   [20]free software by me.
   
   [21]GNU home page; [22]chiark home page; [23]site or mirror home page
   
   This web page is Copyright (C)1996-1999 Ian Jackson. See the
   [24]Copyright/acknowledgements.
   
   Use any browser - [25]Campaign for a non-browser-specific WWW

References

   1. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo
   2. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/
   3. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/userv.tar.gz
   4. ftp://ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk/users/ian/userv/debian/
   5. ftp://ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk/users/ian/userv/
   6. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/spec.html/
   7. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/spec.html/ch-notes.html
   8. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/spec.ps.gz
   9. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/overview.ps
  10. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/overview.fig
  11. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/changelog.txt
  12. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/userv/talk-1998-jun-manchester.ps
  13. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ijackson/cvsweb/userv/
  14. http://www.gnu.org/
  15. http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html
  16. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/COPYING.txt
  17. http://www.fsf.org/
  18. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
  19. mailto:userv-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk
  20. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/software/
  21. http://www.gnu.org/
  22. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
  23. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
  24. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/sw-www-copy.html
  25. http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/