[CLUG] Users and groups

[Dave Burke]

On Thu, May 03, 2001 at 10:39:58AM +0100, Dermot Canniffe wrote:
> > I didn't even notice that one. Why the hell would slocate need its own user,
> > I ask myself.
> > 
> 
> Otherwise only root can read every file on the volume. If you create a user 
> with journaling type rights it can make a proper database without 
> comprimising the system. Unfortunately, the very fact that it exists 
> comprimises system confidentiality so I'd chuck the slocate system entirely.
> Or get a journlaed fs like xfs ext3 or reiser (which I haven't done yet).
> 

Is the very purpose of of slocate not the make sure you only see what your
supposed to see and that it is slightly more intelligent than the gnu
locate? 
the slocate.db will only let you see what you have access to, so it's not
really a secucrity problem, and even if it is compromised, whats the worst
that can happen? people will know where certain files are on the system?
They still don't have read acess to them if they are that important.

*shrug* personally, if i need to fine files, it (to me) seems nicer to query
the slocate.db than doing a find, less intensive on your
system, so i wouldn't ever get rid of it.  Try running a 100 user system
with IDE drives and you can imagine the fun when someone does something like
...find / -name 'mp3' -print.. :-(


> Well, it's been a while since I did a redhat install (v5.0) but we had to 
> do 16 identical minimal installs for a parallel cluster. We were (somehow)
> able to select individual patterns and save the configuration as a 
> bootstrap for subsequent installs. Makes it much easier to do a standard
> base server install IMHO.

well, first of all, don't do a server install, custom install gives you a
much finer control over what is and what isn't installed on the system.
And if you are installing a large number of redhat boxes, you could always
use kickstart, never used it meself, but boss had it setup and he can
install redhat over the network in under 5mins per box :)

Dave