On Nov 18, 2004, at 2:30 PM, Walter Vermeir wrote:
I noticed that now you can not upload anymore a lot of file types. Like zip, gz, doc, xls, sxw, sxc
I understand that some types of files are not allowed for legal and system security reasons. But this is not the case here. For creating and maintaining the wikipedia software all are the system developers greatful. But to use or not to use those files is a editorial decision that has to be made by every wikipedia. It is not something that may be decided by the system developers.
It's not an editorial decision at all; it's purely a security decision.
zip and gz are compression formats which can carry other, dangerous files. doc, and xls are notorious carriers of macro viruses (thanks, Microsoft!) There's been some sample code submitted for running uploads through the clamav virus scanner; I'll try and get this integrated this weekend, and we can then enable a bunch of formats with greater confidence.
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)