[Moscool]

Received an OS X Windows-style security update today. You have to give it to Bill: he has taught the world the art of obscure commentary and the good folks at Apple have learned the lesson: use mumbo jumbo instead of 'we screwed up, here is why and here is your patch...'

So, can anyone be so kind to enlighten the community and explain what the following means?

Security Update 2003-11-19 includes the following updated components:

• gm4
• groff
• Mail w/CRAM-MD5 authentication
• OpenSSL
• Personal File Sharing
• QuickTime for Java
• zlib "gzprintf()" function

 

[moonsocket]

it means that apple is finding and fixing security problems before they become a problem. unlike windows who seem to wait until it becomes a problem to fix them

 

[mojoprofilms]

Yes, and in the case of Windows they actually upload the problem to you at the same time as you're downloading the security fix as I found recently when regrettably using a friend's PC. There was no virus on the system. I used the Windows Update control panel. And then there was a worm which even Norton couldn't delete. In the end I had to re-install everything!

This is why I love my mac....

 

[Chealion]

Moscool - Each of those are components that there have been flaws found and fixed. Most of them are Open Source and so Apple has updated the version to address the bugs and any resulting security flaws.

gm4 - Is GNU's version of m4, which is "an implementation of the traditional Unix macro processor". (Open Source Software that has had the problem fixed, and Apple is passing on the fix.)

groff - GNU's version of troff. "A typesetting package which reads plain text mixed with formatting commands and produces formatted output" (Again, Open Source, has fixes, and Apple passes it on.)

Mail - Apple updated Mail, particularily the CRAM/MD-5 authentication to make it more secure. I'm not sure if there was a flaw or not, but there was a fix, it could be keeping current with the Open Source Community, or a flaw that was found or just both.

OpenSSL - Open Source Software to provide a robust way of implementing the Secure Socket Layer protocol. Most likely a security fix.

Personal File Sharing, and QuickTime for Java are fixes that Apple has been made aware of and has issued a fix to protect from unauthorized access.

zlib - More Open Source Software, and as said on zlib's site: " A Massively Spiffy Yet Delicately Unobtrusive Compression Library", my guess is that Apple uses zlib to do compression, possibly even the archive function in Panther. I'm not sure, but I do know it has to do with compression, and it being better then the standard compress command found in UNIX.

 

[Moscool]

Dr G!

Send this guy another statue!

Presto!!!