Per-Process Namespaces (Conquering The Blob!)

"Attack
The Blob's only function is to check out pre-compiled software from one of our subcontractor's SVN servers, create workspace ( read: create a bunch of directories, move some files around, maybe set up a few links, check availability of some tools ). In short: it sets up environment for development. It is purely a console software, has no graphical parts, for sure does not interact with any other processes or daemons, does not use any advanced libraries and as such, should easily work in Debian or any other reasonably recent distribution.

"So let's install it anyway: run it under strace and see it open /etc/issue:

dev_server# cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 l

"Now open blob_install with a hex editor and notice that it expects "Ubuntu 8.10 l" there. Temporarily change /etc/issue and watch The Blob install flawlessly.

"Blob Strikes Back
At this point I thought I could just change /etc/issue back to its Debian version and start using The Blob; unfortunately, it turned out I underestimated its stubbornness: it actually checks the distribution every single time it performs any action."

Complete Story

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