what does the /dev/screen file do

[Simon Jespersen]

Hi!
Im wondering what the /dev/screen file do, it is created as world writable, is it a security risk that everybody can overwrite this file.

[Peter Godron · Accepted solution]

Simon,
I don't have /dev/screen, however from various sources:
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=201182
and
"/dev/screen - the default window manager directory on HP-UX systems."

This thread may answer your world writable question :
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=970177

[Pete Randall]

And - on my systems, it's not a file but a directory, so the permissions are not an issue.


Pete

[Simon Jespersen]

thanks for the reply, right it is a directory but anyone can write to it. Thats a probem as it reside on the root filesystem.

Well, it seems to be used by xwcreate and a applikation called starbase, which is an letover from earlyer hpux versions. Thats my understanding anyway.