executable help files in Linux

[Monty J. Harder]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 07:25:48 -0600 (CST), Duane Attaway
<dattawaykclug at dattaway.org> wrote:

> > There is also a .hlp file, which has the magic number
> > and identifier for ELF files. It also appears to be
> > a GTK executable file. I don't recall ever seeing a
> > Linux help file that was actually a program. Is this some
> 
> uh oh... the seeds of the first linux virus has been invented...

  I'm not sure how an executable help file would be any more of a
vulnerability than any other executable.   Any program could contain
malicious code.  So use the packages that have been vetted by your
distro's maintainers, or install as non-root to avoid the worst
pitfalls.