condom

   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.

[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {snarf}]