Drew Parsons <dparsons@emerall.com> writes:
> I just noticed the debian/rules file for mirrormagic which I inherited from
> Joey Hess uses dh_testroot to check that the build is run as root (or
> fakeroot).
There are two parts to building a Debian package:
(a) compiling/linking/etc. the application(s)
(b) installing these and any supplementary data into a staging area,
which is then packaged into a deb
Step (a) is normally invoked by the "build" target, and should not
usually need root rights. I don't know if mirrormagic is an exception.
This could even be a bug.
Step (b) (the "binary*" targets) needs a root-like environment so that
file owners etc. are handled without permission problems. A normal
user can't simply install a file owned by root, or sgid games, for
example. This needs (probably simulated) root rights.
> I'm wondering what the justification for doing this is. It prevents, for
> instance, a home user compiling his own deb before installing unless he
> specifically compiles it under root or fakeroot.
Your home user can always do (a) from above. Most programs will also
support running from their build dir.
If s/he wants to do (b) as well, ... just use fakeroot - it's free!
--
Robbe
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