Re: [DotGNU]Running mono-compiled/non-verifiable apps

[Fergus Henderson]

On 25-Feb-2003, Rhys Weatherley <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Tuesday 25 February 2003 08:26 pm, Marcus wrote:
> > Is there a way to force ilrun to non-verifiable IL? Currently, the Mono C#
> > Compiler (mcs) produces non-verifiable code due to defects in their
> > Reflection.Emit. Is there a way to force ilrun to code such code, skipping
> > verification? (The Mono people claim that .NET will run their
> > non-verifiable apps like mcs.exe.)
> 
> Not really.  The verifier in Portable.NET is intricately tied into the CVM 
> translation system.  Type checking must be done so that the translator knows 
> what kind of CVM bytecodes to emit.  Turning off the verifier would basically 
> turn off the interpreter also.

If so, this behaviour is wrong.  The .NET ECMA spec defines two notions,
"verifiable" and "valid", and allows the execution of "unverifiable" code,
provided that it is "valid".  Of course it is usually not safe to run
untrusted code unless it has been verified.  But it should be possible
to execute code which is unverifiable but trusted.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <address@hidden>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.