[Python-Dev] Taint Mode in Python 3.0 RC3

[Nicole King]

Dear All,

I found I needed support for taint mode in python and have done some work to 
realise this. It's by no means complete at this time, but I'm floating this 
idea on this group to see how much interest there is.

The implementation is pretty simple:

- an extra field in PyObject to maintain the taint status
- a couple of extra functions __gettaint__() that returns the taint status and 
__settaint__(value) that sets the taint value, returning the previous status
- an additional command-line flag -a and environment variable 
PYTHONIGNORETAINT that suppress taint checking
- a few macros defined in Objects/object.h to support taint management
- a new built-in exception, PyExc_TaintError, for reporting operations on 
tainted objects

You can pick up the diff at 
http://www.cats-muvva.net/software/Python-taint-diff-3.0rc3.tar.bz2

This diff is ONLY for 3.0RC3. Given that I have only a limited understanding 
of the internals of Python (but it's very clearly written), I'm sure there 
are some behaviours I've overlooked.

I have done very little testing at this point, but, at least, everything 
compiles!

Regards

Nicole King (aka CatsMuvva)