Bug#31864: Should programs that access /dev/* be SGID?
Hwei Sheng TEOH <hsteoh@cs.toronto.edu> writes:
> Package: general
> Severity: wishlist
>
> I noticed that a lot of packages that access devices, such as CD players,
> audio players, etc., are denied permission to access the relevant devices in
> /dev/ when not run as root.
That's correct.
> Perhaps such programs should be SGID to whatever group that device
> is assigned? For example, since /dev/cdrom is read-writable by group
> 'disk', a program, say cdplay, can be SGID to 'disk' so that it can
> be executed by normal users. (This is what I've done on my system so
> that I don't have to su to root all the time, or make binaries SUID
> root unnecessarily).
The idea is that users who are permitted to access the CDROM are put
into group disk. If all users should be able to access it, then all
users must be put into the relevant group.
--
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
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