Re: [Dazuko-devel] Dazuko XP

[John Ogness]

John Richard Moser wrote:
> > I know that there are some commercial organizations working on getting
> > Dazuko ported to WindowsXP. But I have no idea when that will be
> > finished (or if it will be available at no cost). With WindowsXP Dazuko
> > would be implemented as a mini-filter. This involves using
> > Microsoft-Proprietary interfaces. To use these interfaces requires a
> > license and signing a non-disclosure-agreement. This means that Dazuko
> > for WindowsXP could never be open source.
>
> Hold on.  If I scanned (`string`) MS DLL files and found these
> interfaces, and wrote code into Dazuko to use them which I'd
> subsiquently use to write my software, then suddenly I'd be arrested and
> sued and tons of sh*t because (OMFG) I wrote a program that makes the
> user's experience better by going through hooks in the OS and deflecting
> viruses without a virus definition file?

The Dazuko project does not intend to do any reverse engineering of 
"Microsoft-protected" interfaces. If a company has signed the agreements and 
paid the license fees, that company is allowed to produce and distribute 
software that uses these interfaces. If that company were to port Dazuko, 
they would be allowed to distribute a pre-compiled DLL (dazuko.dll) that 
makes use of the Microsoft API and offers the Dazuko API to other programs. 
It is up to that company if they want to give the DLL away at no cost or for 
a licensing fee.


> I'm looking at a preemptive-reactive solution of course.  When a program
> or library would be modified, it will be copied; further access to it
> would access the copy.  Then the user is warned about the modification
> or replacement.  If he wishes to allow it, a signature is generated, and
> future access goes to the original; copy is deleted.  If he wishes to
> roll back the change (maybe libclamav detects a virus and we tell him he
> SHOULD roll back the change; maybe nothing but we tell him this might be
> a concern anyway and he decides to just to be safe) then the old copy is
> put back.

This sounds like a good idea... for any operating system.

John Ogness

--
Dazuko Maintainer