Re: [Ltib] How to use LTIB w/o root?

[Stuart Hughes]

Hi Ryan,

Ryan Nowakowski wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 09, 2009 at 04:08:42PM +0100, Stuart Hughes wrote:
> > Grant Edwards wrote:
> > > On Tue, Jun 09, 2009 at 09:05:26AM +0100, Stuart Hughes wrote:
> > >
> > > > I need to correct a misunderstanding.  LTIB needs you to setup
> > > > sudo root access for rpm (to build an NFS mountable area with
> > > > the devices, owners, permissions etc).  However you are only
> > > > ever running as root during the install phase of rpm building.
> > > Yes, I'm aware of that.
> > >
> > > > Not only that, but there are many checks to make sure that
> > > > ltib cannot write outside your project area.  Does that
> > > > reassure you or do you still have concerns?
[snip]
> > It's a compromise.  On those system IIRC you can only build a  
> > RAMdisk/JFFS image and so you don't have to be root as  
> > genext2fs/mkfs.jffs2 doesn't need root access to make the image.  The  
> > downside though is you can't incrementally deploy while NFS mounted,  
> > which I find a big productivity boost (./ltib -p strace for example).
>
> Maybe LTIB could be modified to run in 2 different modes.  One mode that
> just produces the RAMdisk/JFFS image and doesn't require root access.
> The other mode runs as root to allow NFS deployment(the current mode).

That would be possible, but it's not a high priority (no problem has 
occurred and reasonable steps are taken).  This would not be a small 
change as the interface area is still needed in order to build packages 
as you move up the package list.

> > > > Note that on popular distros like Ubuntu a normal user is
> > > > automatically enabled to run any command as 'sudo root' and
> > > > that seems to be universally accepted.
> > > Without a password?
> > Yes, xandros (eee pc) IIRC.  Maybe Ubuntu (I can't recall).  But in any  
> > case if you allow a user root access (even with a password) a simple  
> > slip at the command line will wipe out your disk.
>
> Ubuntu by default allows normal users to have sudo access to everything
> but requires the user to type in their password when using sudo.

See the point below, having to type in your user password doesn't 
protect you from a slip on the command line:

> > > > 2/ Accidental destruction, e.g. 'sudo rm -rf * /' (I
> > > >    accidentally hit a space), 

Regards Stuart