security handbook questions about file permissions

[good ole flopp]

sorry if this doesn't belong here, i'm still learning my way around.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/security/security-handbook.xml?part=1&chap=6

at the top there it talks about world/group writable files.
it describes how to make a huge file listing files and directories with g+w or o+w privs set.
then it goes on to suggest setting o-w for the files and directories.

first question, why bother listing group writable files if nothing is to be done with them?
second question, on a fresh install why would any of the files have any o privs?
last question, why would i go through that list chmoding the files one at a time when i could chmod -R o-w and accomplish the same thing?

:p
thanks in advance!
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"if only we knew what we don't know, we'd do things right the first time."

[Maedhros]

Moved from Other Things Gentoo to Networking & Security.
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No-one's more important than the earthworm.

[magic919]

The document is not saying make a list and then bin it. Having been made aware of the potential you'd be expected to take the action you see fit. A clued-up user might stick the list into a script to make the changes (having removed from the list any unimportant ones). Whether you could achieve the same result with a general recursive chmod is doubtful, but you'd have to study the list on the system concerned.

[good ole flopp]

am i mistaken in thinking the commands there written find ALL the directories and files with o+w set?
if it's all of them, recursive would be the easiest way to take care of it.

but why, on a fresh install, would any directories or files have o+w set?
am i being unreasonable by thinking that's ridiculous?
_________________
"if only we knew what we don't know, we'd do things right the first time."

[magic919]

I take it you haven't made the list then. If this could all be solved with a quick recursive chmod from the root I can't imagine that page of the handbook would be quite so long...