[tahoe-lafs-trac-stream] [tahoe-lafs] #725: We should whine if we're running as root.

[tahoe-lafs]

#725: We should whine if we're running as root.
--------------------------------+------------------------------------------
     Reporter:  zandr           |      Owner:  davidsarah
         Type:  enhancement     |     Status:  assigned
     Priority:  major           |  Milestone:  1.10.0
    Component:  code-nodeadmin  |    Version:  1.4.1
   Resolution:                  |   Keywords:  easy security usability unix
Launchpad Bug:                  |
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Changes (by davidsarah):

 * keywords:  easy security usability => easy security usability unix
 * milestone:  soon => 1.10.0


Comment:

 [https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2012-July/007613.html On
 tahoe-dev], davidsarah wrote:
 > On 31/07/12 07:59, Two Spirit wrote:
 > > And people do what they are expected to do? I can't speak for the rest
 of the world, but
 > > yea, I guess there are a lot of  "users" like myself who run as root
 and have no clue what
 > > we are doing.  My experience with file systems is that you have to run
 as root for any
 > > file system stuff. I'm sure there are a lot of people who share my
 background.
 > >
 > > My idea was a one sentance, standard WARNING disclaimer indicating
 > > 1) this should be done as a non-root user or
 > > 2) this doesn't need to be done as root
 > > somewhere in the running.rst maybe before the first command 'To
 construct a client node,
 > > run "tahoe create-client"....'
 >
 > "We should whine if we're running as root."
 > https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/725
 >
 > There's a patch, and I see the ticket is assigned to me; it just needs
 tests.
 > I'll put it in the 1.10 milestone.
 >
 > >     What would your idea of said short warning look like?
 >
 > The one in the current patch says:
 {{{
 ###############################################################
 WARNING: You should not be running Tahoe-LAFS as root!
 This poses an unnecessary security risk and is NOT recommended.
 ###############################################################
 }}}
 > There's an argument for saying that this shouldn't just be a warning; it
 should
 > be an error, because running as root once may already do things that
 need to be
 > undone (e.g. creating files owned by root, as in the case that motivated
 the ticket).
 > If we made it an error then we could add an {{{--allow-root}}} option to
 suppress it;
 > is that necessary, or overcomplicated?

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/725#comment:26>
tahoe-lafs <https://tahoe-lafs.org>
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