[mythtv] unprivileged user?

[Alan Snyder]

Doesn't the ability of the application to switch users
depend upon setuid root
and isn't every additional setuid root program a
security risk?

Perhaps this kind of thing is better handled during
install.  If the mythtv user
exists, set ownership on relevant directories and on
mythbackend and
mythfrontend, and chmod u+s on mythbackend and
mythfrontend.  An install script
could do this, or it could just be recommended in the
HOWTO.  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-dev-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-dev-bounces at mythtv.org] On
> Behalf Of Chris Petersen
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 12:17 PM
> To: Development of mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv] unprivileged user?
> 
> > What mythtv user?  Most systems with mythtv
installed probably don't have
> 
> > such a user.
> 
> 
> 
> Thus, you create it.
> 
> 
> 
> ok, basically, you can specify the userid during
compile (defaults to
> 
> "mythtv"), and override this on startup with a
--username type flag.  If
> 
> such a user does not exist, myth could either create
the user for itself
> 
> (not such a good idea - though it might be fine as
an optional command
> 
> line argument), or exit with an error message
explaining that an
> 
> unprivileged user named X needs to exist.  User
creation can happen
> 
> automatically for those of us who use packages.
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, it's not really a big deal - just thought
that it'd be a nice
> 
> security enhancement.
> 
> 
> 
> -Chris
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
>
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