Re: Setuid

[Stuart Lamble <lamble@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au>]

Shaya Potter <spotter@itd.nrl.navy.mil> wrote:
>
>On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Brian C. White wrote:
[...]
>> This same thing applied to all packages linked against svgalib, including
>> ghostscript.
>
>Since many programs might need to read svgalib, might it be better to do 
>something like sgid'ing them and make a special group for svgalib.

No. SVGAlib _requires_ suid root access in order to be able to gain access
to the IO ports. It manipulates these ports to display graphics. (If you
want me to go into more detail, feel free to email me off the list.)

It's the same reason that X servers need either a suid root wrapper, or to
be suid root. Either way, you need to have root access. (SVGAlib gives root
access up once it's initialised - ie, once it has gained access to the ports
it needs.)

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