Integrating capabilities into the object model to protect distributed object systems

Protection is increasingly a concern for heterogeneous distributed interoperable environments that are appearing. Oviedo3 is an example of an Integral Object-Oriented System (IOOS) based solely on the OO paradigm, developed over an OO Abstract Machine (OOAM) and OO operating system (OOOS). Integrating capabilities into the object model of the abstract machine gives capabilities new advantages. Examples are automatic protection of capabilities and specially the possibility of more flexible security policies with fine-grained protection. These benefits can also be applied to similar systems lacking this uniform protection mechanism, like Java, making them more suitable for these new environments. A prototype implementation is described with a special permission included to improve performance. Examination of preliminary performance figures together with behaviour of real-world applications and static analysis techniques, point to a favourable cost-benefit balance.