Is it possible to hide process args from 'ps -ef'??

[andre]

In article <1414 at compel.UUCP> her at compel.UUCP (Helge Egelund Rasmussen) writes:
  >It is possible to give Oracle programs the username/password on the
  >command line, ie :
  >    $ sqlplus scott/tiger

  >This is all very nice, BUT when another user execute 'ps -ef' he/she
  >can see the password!

  >Is it possible to hide the arguments, so that they won't show up in
  >the 'ps' output (possibly by 'exec'ing sqlplus in some devious way :-)??

Sure you can, try this for size:

main(argc, argv)
int argc;
char **argv;
{
	char p[512];
	if (argc == 2)
	{
	    strcpy(p, argv[1]);
	    memset(argv[1], '\0', strlen(argv[1]));
	    sleep(30);  /* time to check */
	    printf("argv[1] was %s \n",p);
	}
	return 0;
}

NOTE: untested code, but this explains the idea.
-- 
The mail|    AAA         DDDD  It's not the kill, but the thrill of the chase.
demon...|   AA AAvv   vvDD  DD        Ketchup is a vegetable.
hits!.@&|  AAAAAAAvv vvDD  DD                    {nixbur|nixtor}!adalen.via
--more--| AAA   AAAvvvDDDDDD    Andre van Dalen, uunet!hp4nl!targon!andre