Appendix B: Hack Proofing Linux

This Appendix will provide you with a quick, yet comprehensive, review of the most important concepts covered in this book.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Open Source Security

The GPL protects the software code, not a corporation or an individual.
Protecting code rather than individuals is a radical change, because it allows code to be improved upon without being made completely proprietary.
Open source code does not necessarily have to be free. For example, companies such as Red Hat and Caldera sell their products, which are based on the open source Linux kernel.

As you use open source code, remember that this code may represent a work in progress.
Sometimes, open source code changes radically, forcing you to retrain users. You may find that updates happen irregularly, and that it is sometimes more challenging to update open source code. Furthermore, once you upgrade the code, you may be presented with an application that behaves very differently, or has a radically different interface.
Before installing open source software, make sure that your operating system contains all of the necessary supporting applications and libraries.

RPMs sometimes offer convenience. However, precompiled RPMs often do not have all of the features necessary to implement a truly useful product.
Tarballs often require editing of a special file called a makefile. However, this is not necessarily all that difficult. It simply requires that you...

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