[mythtv] non-root myth under Red Hat (was: unprivileged user?)

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Thu, Aug 21, 2003 at 09:31:00AM +0300, Axel Thimm wrote:

> Unfortunately the Red Hat ownership and permission model is an
> obstacle here. Some of the required devices for myth are hijacked at
> login time by the desktop user, so a mythtv user (which exists in the
> Red Hat packages BTW) would suddenly loose permissions on the devices
> when someone logs in on the desktop of a backend machine.
> 
> There is a configuration file that can be tuned for that, but it is
> owned by core Red Hat packages and I hesitate to replace those
> packages.
> 
> I cannot come up with a static ownership/permissions setup (e.g. the
> same devices could be used by mythtv or another application running as
> the desktop user).
> 
> How does debian solve this? IIRC there are audio and video groups, but
> how does it work? How is concurrent access to capture devices managed?

Debian doesn't change the permissions of devices for desktop users.  The
idea has come up a few times, but I personally don't think it's very useful.
Debian has audio and video groups, and users who should have access to those
devices are added to the groups.  The permissions on the devices are static.

Of course, if a hypothetical desktop user were to start a manual audio
recording using the audio device that mythtv wants to use, and then a
scheduled recording were to start, mythtv would lose.  I don't see this as a
significant problem; if the user wants to run other audio recording
applications on the same system, he needs to either have two sound devices,
or work within the available timeslots when myth isn't recording.  Likewise
for video capture.

-- 
 - mdz