Brindle on Security

This is a response to an open letter from Darren Moffat to IBM. While this open letter has very little substance and is almost entirely opinion there are some things I’d like to address.
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So, this is a break from my normal philosophical theme to talk about a real experience I had this week.

Basically I was trying out some software, without saying what it was or who makes it, I thought it might be helpful for the software development I do at work. For those who don’t know I work on SELinux libraries and the policy toolchain at work.

That said, I downloaded the trial version of the software and got to work. The first time I ran it I got a very obscure error, it had to do with how the app was being run (after installing it according to the instructions included). After figuring out the “correct” way to run it I started it up only to get another (more obscure) error. I emailed the support address found on their page, including strace outputs and a description of what happened with both issues.

I got an email from who I originally thought was a low level support staffer who was instructed to say this, but is actually a cofounder of the company. The email read:

Hi Joshua,

I think you may have selinux enabled (FC5 has this by default).

If /etc/selinux/config has the line:

SELINUX=enforcing

then you need to change it to:

SELINUX=disabled

(or permissive should work, although I’ve not tried it).

Unfortunately, you need to reboot for the changes to take effect.

Hope this works for you (if not, please don’t hesitate to ask).

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