[Opensim-dev] Requesting Patch Review of Mantis 3777

[Kyle Hamilton]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that IBM/Lotus were far
ahead of their time when they created the "ECL", or "Execution Control
List", for their Notes clients and databases.  After a digital
signature on a given piece of code is verified as being from a
specific authorized principal, the restrictions placed on that
principal as to what it can do on any given Notes client or Domino
server are enforced when that code is run.

To implement this kind of thing in OpenSim, there's a need for an
encapsulation in the storage layer that can contain both the script
and its digital signature.  In addition, some kind of key-management
(or PKI) client system would need to be built, and the script context
would need to begin assessing ECLs to determine what any given script
could do on any given sim.  (Since there's no mechanism to run code on
the client, it shouldn't matter if Linden accepts this design or not.)

(In addition, if client certificates were used to authenticate to the
server, then certain god-like or estate-owner-like powers could be
limited to certain named principals identified by specific keys,
rather than relying on crackable name/password pairs.  However, that's
an entirely different problem.)

-Kyle H (who's not affiliated in any way with IBM or Lotus, and who
notes that there are no "protected by patent" statements on the Notes
or Domino software anywhere that he could find)

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Melanie<melanie at t-data.com> wrote:
> It's not even about exploits in terms of "randomly killing avatars"
> in normal use. It's about what we term "God Weapons", a weapon that
> will kill an opponent of any level pretty much instantaneously and
> without a trace of how it's done.
> The ACL, if implemented, would restrict the use of the function to
> the maker of the combat system or their licensed weapons developers,
> making the risk of someone creating god weapons that much smaller.
>
> Any osFunction is already optional anyway.
>
> Melanie
>
> Nebadon Izumi wrote:
>> I think one way to insure its not used for cheating is make it optional, if
>> people are abusing it i can simply turn it off as a sim owner.  I think this
>> is probably a good start to atleast getting it into opensim, if it becomes
>> widely abused it will simply just be shut off by everyone until you can
>> provide further fixes to the code.
>>
>> Neb
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 7:27 AM, Jay Eames <alchamist at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> As another recognised author of SL combat systems, I can spot the problem
>>> with statements like "restrict the cheating", as everyone has different
>>> ideas of what "cheating" is, and how best to stop it. ACL's etc are not
>>> particularly system friendly for non-techinical sim owners. IMHO, a basic,
>>> collision based system for OS is fine, providing it honours the damage
>>> sim/estate setting. At the end of the day, people will either avoid it and
>>> create their own system with LSL/OSL (as we currently do in SL), or someone
>>> will come up with a sim plugin for melee combat etc ;)
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 9:49 AM, Melanie <melanie at t-data.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I have looked at your patch, and it seems sound from a programming
>>>> POV. However, as one of the recognized authorz of SL combat systems,
>>>> I know that a function like that _will_ be abused. It is definitely
>>>> the function that  has been missing from SL, it is what makes
>>>> devices (like bombs) and melee fighting possible. The original SL
>>>> damage system is impact only, causing weapons builders to create
>>>> swords that actually fire bullets. It has more issues than i care to
>>>> mention.
>>>>
>>>> It would be nice to have some security on it, e.g. restrict it's use
>>>> to an ACL (or creators) to make it possible to restrict the cheating
>>>> somewhat...
>>>>
>>>> Melan ie
>>>>
>>>> Brad Henry wrote:
>>>> > Hello, I put together an OSSL function called osCauseDamage(key avatar,
>>>> > float damage) to allow scripts to interact with the built-in combat
>>>> > system. It's pretty simple, but I was hoping to get some review of it
>>>> > (regardless of if it is accepted), as it's my first foray into opensim
>>>> dev.
>>>> >
>>>> > The patch (osCauseDamage.patch) and an example of its use in a script is
>>>> > included in Mantis 3777,
>>>> http://opensimulator.org/mantis/view.php?id=3777
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks in advance,
>>>> > Brad
>>>> >
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>>>> >
>>>> >
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary and
>>> those who don't...
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
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