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

Timothee Besset ttimo at idsoftware.com
Mon Feb 18 13:39:47 EST 2002


Yes, on unix you can only loose rights, not gain them. Those programs are
suid root. What I want to do, is either execute a program that is present
on most distribution which will allow setup to gain root, or to have setup
install our custom solution once and for all when it's run 'regularly' as
root the first time.

TTimo

On Mon, 18 Feb 2002 13:29:28 -0500 (EST)
"Ryan C. Gordon" <icculus at clutteredmind.org> wrote:

> 
> > 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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