[lokisetup] obtaining root rights - one way or the other

Ryan C. Gordon icculus at clutteredmind.org
Mon Feb 18 13:29:28 EST 2002


> Is there an existing clean solution (available on most distribs
> preferably, or something we could have as an add-on to setup) that would
> display a graphical window and ask the user to enter the root pass? I'd
> rather avoid going anywhere near suid hacks in shell scripts..

This is probably best done inside Setup, since there's already a framework
for getting input (dialog, gtk, etc), and it would less sensitive
information getting tossed between apps.

Perhaps a "requireroot" ("superuser", maybe?) attribute in the <install>
element would be a good idea, so that Setup knows to prompt for the
password.

BUT ...

I've never actually tried this, so forgive the dumb question: how does a
process that is not running as root become root, even with the password?
My assumption is that things like "su" and the login process were run
initially as root, and changed to regular users with their passwords, but
it can't work the other way around.

--ryan.





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