NAME

       condom - protection against viruses and prevention of child processes

SYNOPSIS

       condom [options] [processid]

DESCRIPTION

       condom  provides  protection  against  System  Transmitted  Viruses  (STVs)  that may invade your system.
       Although the spread of such viruses across a network can only be abated  by  aware  and  cautious  users,
       condom  is  the  only  highly  effective  means  of  preventing  viruses  from  entering your system (see
       celibacy(1)).  Any data passed to condom by the protected process will be blocked, as  specified  by  the
       value  of the -s option (see OPTIONS below).  condom is known to defend against the following viruses and
       other malicious afflictions:

              •      AIDS
              •      Herpes Simplex (genital varieties)
              •      Syphilis
              •      Crabs
              •      Genital warts
              •      Gonhorrea
              •      Chlamydia
              •      Michelangelo
              •      Jerusalem

       When used alone or in conjunction  with  pill(1),  sponge(1),  foam(1),  and/or  setiud(3),  condom  also
       prevents the conception of a child process.  If invoked from within a synchronous process, condom has, by
       default, an 80% chance of preventing the external processes from becoming parent processes  (see  the  -s
       option below).  When other process contraceptives are used, the chance of preventing a child process from
       being forked becomes much greater.  See pill(1), sponge(1), foam(1), and setiud(3) for more information.

       If no options are given, the current user's login process (as  determined  by  the  environment  variable
       USER)  is  protected  with  a  Trojan  rough-cut  latex  condom  without  a  reservoir tip.  The optional
       ``processid'' argument is an integer specifying the process to protect.

       NOTE: condom may only be used with a hard disk.  condom will terminate abnormally with exit  code  -1  if
       used with a floppy disk (see DIAGNOSTICS below).

OPTIONS

       The following options may be given to condom:

       -b brand
              brands are as follows:

                 trojan (default)
                 ramses
                 sheik
                 goldcoin
                 fourex

       -m material
              The valid materials are:

                 latex (default)
                 saranwrap
                 membrane
                        WARNING!   The membrane option is not endorsed by the System Administrator General as an
                        effective barrier against certain viruses.   It  is  supported  only  for  the  sake  of
                        tradition.

       -f flavor
              The following flavors are currently supported:

                 plain (default)
                 apple
                 banana
                 cherry
                 cinnamon
                 licorice
                 orange
                 peppermint
                 raspberry
                 spearmint
                 strawberry

       -r     Toggle reservoir tip (default is no reservoir tip)

       -s strength
              strength  is an integer between 20 and 100 specifying the resilience of condom against data passed
              to condom by the  protected  process.   Using  a  larger  value  of  strength  increases  condom's
              protective  abilities,  but  also reduces interprocess communication.  A smaller value of strength
              increases interprocess communication, but also increases the likelihood of a security breach.   An
              extremely  vigorous  process or one passing an enormous amount of data to condom will increase the
              chance of condom's failure.  The default strength is 80%.

       -t texture
              Valid textures are:

                 rough (default)
                 ribbed
                 bumps
                 lubricated
                        (provides smoother interaction between processes)

       WARNING: The use of an external application to condom in order to reduce friction between  processes  has
       been  proven in benchmark tests to decrease condom's strength factor!  If execution speed is important to
       your process, use the ``-t lubricated'' option.

DIAGNOSTICS

       condom terminates with one of the following exit codes:

       -1     An attempt was made to use condom on a floppy disk.

       0      condom exited successfully (no data was passed to the synchronous process).

       1      condom failed and data was allowed through.  The danger of transmission of an STV or  the  forking
              of  a  child  process is inversely proportional to the number of other protections employed and is
              directly proportional to the ages of the processes involved.

BUGS

       condom is NOT 100% effective at preventing a child process from being forked or at deterring the invasion
       of  a virus (although the System Administrator General has deemed that condom is the most effective means
       of preventing the spread of system transmitted viruses).  See  celibacy(1)  for  information  on  a  100%
       effective program for preventing these problems.

       Remember,  the  use  of  sex(1)  and  other related routines should only occur between mature, consenting
       processes.  If you must use sex(1), please employ condom to protect your  process  and  your  synchronous
       process.  If we are all responsible, we can stop the spread of STVs.

AUTHORS and HISTORY

       The  original  version of condom was released in Roman times and was only marginally effective.  With the
       advent of modern technology, condom now supports many more options and is much more effective.

       The  current  release  of  condom  was  written  by  Ken  Maupin  at   the   University   of   Washington
       (maupin@cs.washington.edu) and was last updated on 10/7/92.

SEE ALSO

       celibacy(1), sex(1), pill(1), sponge(1), foam(1), and setiud(3)