condom n.
1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch
microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk
envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left
on) not only impedes the practice of SEX but has also been shown to have a high failure
rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk -- and can
even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The protective cladding on a
light pipe. 3. `keyboard
condom': A flexible, transparent plastic cover for a keyboard,
designed to provide some protection against dust and programming fluid without impeding
typing. 4. `elephant condom': the plastic shipping bags used
inside cardboard boxes to protect hardware in transit. 5. n. obs.
A dummy directory /usr/tmp/sh, created to foil the
Great Worm by exploiting a
portability bug in one of its parts. So named in the title of a
_comp.risks_ article by Gene Spafford during the Worm
crisis, and again in the text of "The Internet Worm Program: An
Analysis", Purdue Technical Report CSD-TR-823.