wine users - Aug 2006 - Re: Double-clicking Windows .exe's (was "What apps work in Wine")

On Wednesday 23 August 2006 07:25, wine-users-request@winehq.org
wrote:
> you can't double click an exe, you have
> to run it with wine, ie "wine game.exe". there is a way to make
it so that
> you can double click exe files, but that way makes your system vulnerable
> to windows virii, so you should really stick to the standard.
On my Debian Sid system, I CAN double click. I did not do anything I recall to 
enable this. I assume (maybe incorrectly) that binfmt package is what enables 
this.

So how does one configure this correctly?
1. The above-mentioned virus vunerability--is this true. (RULE--never click on 
anything in emails would apply in linux as well, even if proper 
security/permissions would stop a virus).
2. Some .exe's should NOT run with WINE! .net programs should go through
mono.

I found this relating Viruses and wine

Well this is a very old resource: (1999?)

If you try to run applications infected by a virus,
sometimes you get a fixme-message ending up with
"(possible Virus Infection or broken binary)!".  Up to
now this always is a sign for a real virus infection.
Newer virus checkers will normally find the virus. If
your virus checker does not report an infection, it is
out of date, not very good or you got a really new virus
not known by the virus checker.

Over a year old, but here is another nice regression testing on 5 Viruses.
http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/01/25/1430222&from=rss

Well, it is better to think they work then not. But vor now it looks like
 the damage a virus can do is rather minimal.
Rootkit are out of question and trojans, hmm well I am unsure about them.

Maybe we should see if we can collect some and do some new testing :P

Cheers




David Baron schrieb:
> On Wednesday 23 August 2006 07:25, wine-users-request@winehq.org wrote:
>   
>> you can't double click an exe, you have
>> to run it with wine, ie "wine game.exe". there is a way to
make it so that
>> you can double click exe files, but that way makes your system
vulnerable
>> to windows virii, so you should really stick to the standard.
>>     
>
> On my Debian Sid system, I CAN double click. I did not do anything I recall
to
> enable this. I assume (maybe incorrectly) that binfmt package is what
enables
> this.
>
> So how does one configure this correctly?
> 1. The above-mentioned virus vunerability--is this true. (RULE--never click
on
> anything in emails would apply in linux as well, even if proper 
> security/permissions would stop a virus).
> 2. Some .exe's should NOT run with WINE! .net programs should go
through mono.
>
> _______________________________________________
> wine-users mailing list
> wine-users@winehq.org
> http://www.winehq.org/mailman/listinfo/wine-users
>
>

> On my Debian Sid system, I CAN double click. I did not do anything I recall
> to enable this. I assume (maybe incorrectly) that binfmt package is what
> enables this.
Debian's own wine debs are indeed made that way. They automatically use
binfmt
to add an .exe shell handler
>
> So how does one configure this correctly?
> 1. The above-mentioned virus vunerability--is this true. (RULE--never click
> on anything in emails would apply in linux as well, even if proper
> security/permissions would stop a virus).
the thing is, your wine has full access to all linux files. If a virus tries 
to delete some files, it might fail for files that belong to root, but the 
least the virus can do is wipe your home directory, which is bad enough. The 
virus can't really break your system, but nonetheless it can delete
important
data. The only upside would be that you can better protect yourself by 
disallowing yourself to write on certain files.
> 2. Some .exe's should NOT run with WINE! .net programs should go
through
> mono.
hence why debian's method is not really good, it sends any exe file to wine 
without even asking you first. In fact, it sends any files that look like 
exes, so even those nasty .bmp.pif virii which are actually a renamed exe 
file will work

Regards

Ramon Klass