diff lispref/functions.texi @ 47667:96b260e0ff3d

New major mode "SES" for spreadsheets. New function (unsafep X) determines whether X is a safe Lisp form. New support module testcover.el for coverage testing.

--- a/lispref/functions.texi	Sat Sep 28 02:09:30 2002 +0000
+++ b/lispref/functions.texi	Sat Sep 28 18:45:56 2002 +0000
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 * Function Cells::        Accessing or setting the function definition
                             of a symbol.
 * Inline Functions::	  Defining functions that the compiler will open code.
+* Function safety::       Determining whether a function is safe to call.
 * Related Topics::        Cross-references to specific Lisp primitives
                             that have a special bearing on how functions work.
 @end menu
@@ -1157,6 +1158,95 @@
 Inline functions can be used and open-coded later on in the same file,
 following the definition, just like macros.
 
+@node Function safety
+@section Determining whether a function is safe to call
+@cindex function safety
+@cindex safety of functions
+@cindex virus detection
+@cindex Trojan-horse detection
+@cindex DDoS attacks
+
+Some major modes such as SES (see @pxref{Top,,,ses}) will call
+functions that are stored in user files.  User files sometimes have
+poor pedigrees---you can get a spreadsheet from someone you've just
+met, or you can get one through email from someone you've never met.
+Such files can contain viruses and other Trojan horses that could
+corrupt your operating system environment, delete your files, or even
+turn your computer into a DDoS zombie!  To avoid this terrible fate,
+you should not call a function whose source code is stored in a user
+file until you have determined that it is safe.
+
+@defun unsafep form &optional unsafep-vars
+Returns nil if @var{form} is a @dfn{safe} lisp expression, or returns
+a list that describes why it might be unsafe.  The argument
+@var{unsafep-vars} is a list of symbols known to have temporary
+bindings at this point; it is mainly used for internal recursive
+calls.  The current buffer is an implicit argument, which provides a
+list of buffer-local bindings.
+@end defun
+
+Being quick and simple, @code{unsafep} does a very light analysis and
+rejects many Lisp expressions that are actually safe.  There are no
+known cases where @code{unsafep} returns nil for an unsafe expression.
+However, a ``safe'' Lisp expression can return a string with a
+@code{display} property, containing an associated Lisp expression to
+be executed after the string is inserted into a buffer.  This
+associated expression can be a virus.  In order to be safe, you must
+delete properties from all strings calculated by user code before
+inserting them into buffers.
+
+What is a safe Lisp expression?  Basically, it's an expression that
+calls only built-in functions with no side effects (or only innocuous
+ones).  Innocuous side effects include displaying messages and
+altering non-risky buffer-local variables (but not global variables).
+
+@table @dfn
+@item Safe expression
+@itemize
+@item
+An atom or quoted thing.
+@item
+A call to a safe function (see below), if all its arguments are
+safe expressions.
+@item
+One of the special forms [and, catch, cond, if, or, prog1, prog2,
+progn, while, unwind-protect], if all its arguments are safe.
+@item
+A form that creates temporary bindings [condition-case, dolist,
+dotimes, lambda, let, let*], if all args are safe and the symbols to
+be bound are not explicitly risky (see @pxref{File Local Variables}).
+@item
+An assignment [add-to-list, setq, push, pop], if all args are safe and
+the symbols to be assigned are not explicitly risky and they already
+have temporary or buffer-local bindings.
+@item
+One of [apply, mapc, mapcar, mapconcat] if the first argument is a
+safe explicit lambda and the other args are safe expressions.
+@end itemize
+
+@item Safe function
+@itemize
+@item
+A lambda containing safe expressions.
+@item
+A symbol on the list @code{safe-functions}, so the user says it's safe.
+@item
+A symbol with a non-nil @code{side-effect-free} property.
+@item
+A symbol with a non-nil @code{safe-function} property.  Value t
+indicates a function that is safe but has innocuous side effects.
+Other values will someday indicate functions with classes of side
+effects that are not always safe.
+@end itemize
+
+The @code{side-effect-free} and @code{safe-function} properties are
+provided for built-in functions and for low-level functions and macros
+defined in @file{subr.el}.  You can assign these properties for the
+functions you write.
+
+@end table
+
+
 @c Emacs versions prior to 19 did not have inline functions.
 
 @node Related Topics