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First, it's certainly possible to have viruses under Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. The inventor of the term computer virus, Fred Cohen, did his first experiments under 4.3BSD. A How-To document exists for writing Linux viruses, although it looks like it hasn't had an update since 2003.

Second, source code for sh-script computer viruses has floated around for better than 20 years. See Tom Duff's 1988 paper, and Doug McIllroy's 1988 paper. More recently, a platform-independent LaTeX virus got developed for a conference. Runs on Windows and Linux and *BSD. Naturally, its effects are worse under Windows...

Third, a handful of real, live computer viruses for (at least) Linux have appeared, although it's not clear if more than 2 or 3 of these (RST.a and RST.b) ever got found "in the wild".

So, the real question is not Can Linux/Unix/BSD contract computer viruses? but rather, Given how large the Linux desktop and server population is, why doesn't that population have the kind of amazing plague of viruses that Windows attracts?

I suspect that the reason has something to do with the mild protection given by traditional Unix user/group/other discretionary protections, and the fractured software base that Linux supports. I mean, my server still runs Slackware 12.1, but with a custom-compiled kernel and lots of re-compiled packages. My desktop runs Arch, which is a rolling release. Even though they both run "Linux", they don't have much in common.

The state of viruses on linux may actually be the normal equilibrium. The situation on Windows might be the "dragon king", really unusual situation. The Windows API is insanely baroque, Win32, NT-native API, magic device names like LPT, CON, AUX that can work from any directory, the ACLs that nobody understands, the tradition of single-user, nay, single root user, machines, marking files executable by using part of the file name (.exe), all of this probably contributes to the state of malware on Windows.

First, it's certainly possible to have viruses under Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. The inventor of the term computer virus, Fred Cohen, did his first experiments under 4.3BSD. A How-To document exists for writing Linux viruses, although it looks like it hasn't had an update since 2003.

Second, source code for sh-script computer viruses has floated around for better than 20 years. See Tom Duff's 1988 paper, and Doug McIllroy's 1988 paper. More recently, a platform-independent LaTeX virus got developed for a conference. Runs on Windows and Linux and *BSD. Naturally, its effects are worse under Windows...

Third, a handful of real, live computer viruses for (at least) Linux have appeared, although it's not clear if more than 2 or 3 of these (RST.a and RST.b) ever got found "in the wild".

So, the real question is not Can Linux/Unix/BSD contract computer viruses? but rather, Given how large the Linux desktop and server population is, why doesn't that population have the kind of amazing plague of viruses that Windows attracts?

I suspect that the reason has something to do with the mild protection given by traditional Unix user/group/other discretionary protections, and the fractured software base that Linux supports. I mean, my server still runs Slackware 12.1, but with a custom-compiled kernel and lots of re-compiled packages. My desktop runs Arch, which is a rolling release. Even though they both run "Linux", they don't have much in common.

The state of viruses on linux may actually be the normal equilibrium. The situation on Windows might be the "dragon king", really unusual situation. The Windows API is insanely baroque, Win32, NT-native API, magic device names like LPT, CON, AUX that can work from any directory, the ACLs that nobody understands, the tradition of single-user, nay, single root user, machines, marking files executable by using part of the file name (.exe), all of this probably contributes to the state of malware on Windows.

First, it's certainly possible to have viruses under Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. The inventor of the term computer virus, Fred Cohen, did his first experiments under 4.3BSD. A How-To document exists for writing Linux viruses, although it looks like it hasn't had an update in 7 years or so.

Second, source code for sh-script computer viruses has floated around for better than 20 years. See Tom Duff's 1988 paper, and Doug McIllroy's 1988 paper. More recently, a platform-independent LaTeX virus got developed for a conference. Runs on Windows and Linux and *BSD. Naturally, its effects are worse under Windows...

Third, a handful of real, live computer viruses for (at least) Linux have appeared, although it's not clear if more than 2 or 3 of these (RST.a and RST.b) ever got found "in the wild".

So, the real question is not Can Linux/Unix/BSD contract computer viruses? but rather, Given how large the Linux desktop and server population is, why doesn't that population have the kind of amazing plague of viruses that Windows attracts?

I suspect that the reason has something to do with the mild protection given by traditional Unix user/group/other discretionary protections, and the fractured software base that Linux supports. I mean, my server still runs Slackware 12.1, but with a custom-compiled kernel and lots of re-compiled packages. My desktop runs Arch, which is a rolling release. Even though they both run "Linux", they don't have much in common.

The state of viruses on linux may actually be the normal equilibrium. The situation on Windows might be the "dragon king", really unusual situation. The Windows API is insanely baroque, Win32, NT-native API, magic device names like LPT, CON, AUX that can work from any directory, the ACLs that nobody understands, the tradition of single-user, nay, single root user, machines, marking files executable by using part of the file name (.exe), all of this probably contributes to the state of malware on Windows.

First, it's certainly possible to have viruses under Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. The inventor of the term computer virus, Fred Cohen, did his first experiments under 4.3BSD. A How-To document exists for writing Linux viruses, although it looks like it hasn't had an update since 2003.

Second, source code for sh-script computer viruses has floated around for better than 20 years. See Tom Duff's 1988 paper, and Doug McIllroy's 1988 paper. More recently, a platform-independent LaTeX virus got developed for a conference. Runs on Windows and Linux and *BSD. Naturally, its effects are worse under Windows...

Third, a handful of real, live computer viruses for (at least) Linux have appeared, although it's not clear if more than 2 or 3 of these (RST.a and RST.b) ever got found "in the wild".

So, the real question is not Can Linux/Unix/BSD contract computer viruses? but rather, Given how large the Linux desktop and server population is, why doesn't that population have the kind of amazing plague of viruses that Windows attracts?

I suspect that the reason has something to do with the mild protection given by traditional Unix user/group/other discretionary protections, and the fractured software base that Linux supports. I mean, my server still runs Slackware 12.1, but with a custom-compiled kernel and lots of re-compiled packages. My desktop runs Arch, which is a rolling release. Even though they both run "Linux", they don't have much in common.

The state of viruses on linux may actually be the normal equilibrium. The situation on Windows might be the "dragon king", really unusual situation. The Windows API is insanely baroque, Win32, NT-native API, magic device names like LPT, CON, AUX that can work from any directory, the ACLs that nobody understands, the tradition of single-user, nay, single root user, machines, marking files executable by using part of the file name (.exe), all of this probably contributes to the state of malware on Windows.

First, it's certainly possible to have viruses under Linux. The inventor of the term computer virus, Fred Cohen, did his first experiments under 4.3BSD. A How-To document exists for writing Linux viruses, although it looks like it hasn't had an update in 7 years or so.

Second, source code for sh-script computer viruses has floated around for better than 20 years. See Tom Duff's 1988 paper, and Doug McIllroy's 1988 paper. More recently, a platform-independent LaTeX virus got developed for a conference. Runs on Windows and Linux and *BSD. Naturally, its effects are worse under Windows...

Third, a handful of real, live computer viruses for (at least) Linux have appeared, although it's not clear if more than 2 or 3 of these (RST.a and RST.b) ever got found "in the wild".

So, the real question is not Can Linux/Unix/BSD contract computer viruses? but rather, Given how large the Linux desktop and server population is, why doesn't that population have the kind of amazing plague of viruses that Windows attracts?

I suspect that the reason has something to do with the mild protection given by traditional Unix user/group/other discretionary protections, and the fractured software base that Linux supports. I mean, my server still runs Slackware 12.1, but with a custom-compiled kernel and lots of re-compiled packages. My desktop runs Arch, which is a rolling release. Even though they both run "Linux", they don't have much in common.

The state of viruses on linux may actually be the normal equilibrium. The situation on Windows might be the "dragon king", really unusual situation. The Windows API is insanely baroque, Win32, NT-native API, magic device names like LPT, CON, AUX that can work from any directory, the ACLs that nobody understands, the tradition of single-user, nay, single root user, machines, marking files executable by using part of the file name (.exe), all of this probably contributes to the state of malware on Windows.

First, it's certainly possible to have viruses under Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. The inventor of the term computer virus, Fred Cohen, did his first experiments under 4.3BSD. A How-To document exists for writing Linux viruses, although it looks like it hasn't had an update in 7 years or so.

Second, source code for sh-script computer viruses has floated around for better than 20 years. See Tom Duff's 1988 paper, and Doug McIllroy's 1988 paper. More recently, a platform-independent LaTeX virus got developed for a conference. Runs on Windows and Linux and *BSD. Naturally, its effects are worse under Windows...

Third, a handful of real, live computer viruses for (at least) Linux have appeared, although it's not clear if more than 2 or 3 of these (RST.a and RST.b) ever got found "in the wild".

So, the real question is not Can Linux/Unix/BSD contract computer viruses? but rather, Given how large the Linux desktop and server population is, why doesn't that population have the kind of amazing plague of viruses that Windows attracts?

I suspect that the reason has something to do with the mild protection given by traditional Unix user/group/other discretionary protections, and the fractured software base that Linux supports. I mean, my server still runs Slackware 12.1, but with a custom-compiled kernel and lots of re-compiled packages. My desktop runs Arch, which is a rolling release. Even though they both run "Linux", they don't have much in common.

The state of viruses on linux may actually be the normal equilibrium. The situation on Windows might be the "dragon king", really unusual situation. The Windows API is insanely baroque, Win32, NT-native API, magic device names like LPT, CON, AUX that can work from any directory, the ACLs that nobody understands, the tradition of single-user, nay, single root user, machines, marking files executable by using part of the file name (.exe), all of this probably contributes to the state of malware on Windows.