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[REBOL] Re: SDK licensing issues

From: SunandaDH:aol at: 5-Feb-2006 5:08

Anton:
> That would stop any mail sending.
That solves one problem, but requires third-party software to keep REBOL safe. And, as Gregg says:
> The allure of configurable apps, with REBOL as a macro language, is > powerful; but danger doesn't lurk there, it's in plain sight.
How could we safely run *any* REBOL script as a macro language without it doing damage? I don't think there is a simply answer to that, and any answer will need RT's involvement. But here is one possibility RT create (yet another) REBOL executable called (say) REBOL/Macro. That contains generally thought of as "safe" code -- say the ability to do arithmetic, create series, and so on. But it does not contain native code to do anything "unsafe" -- like send or read or write and much else. Instead, those functions are passed back to the invoking program for checking and actioning. From the viewpoint of the calling program, it might look something like this: untrusted-code: read %untrusted-code.r do-unsafe/time-quota untrusted-code [send: true ;; allows send without any checking read: func [] [] ;; function to handle read on behalf of untrusted code ] 0:0:02 ;; time quota 2 seconds Any unsafe function not set to true or given a handler will not be permitted do-unsafe loads the REBOL-macro interpreter, so the untrusted code has no access to any mezzanines or the system object of the caller. The untrusted code is halted (or there may be a call back for confirmation) after 2 seconds elapse time. *** REBOL as its own macro language is a flexible and powerful opportunity to do some real X-internet applications.....It just needs to be made safe, as Gregg says. Sunanda.