[geeks] Compilers - safe on servers?

[der Mouse]

> The problem with *that* is I was always lead to believe this was a
> bad idea on production servers because in the even of a security
> breach the gcc compiler could be used to compile malicious code.

This is true as far as it goes, but there are so many ways to get a
binary compiled elsewhere onto the machine that it doesn't make much
difference in practice.

Unless, of course, you have it locked down so tight during normal
operation that there _aren't_ a zillion different ways to get a binary
from elsewhere onto it, in which case you have a valid point.  What I
would probably do is to go ahead and install the compiler, then
uninstall it when I'm done using it.  I might even install the compiler
on an external drive which I then remove for production use.

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