>>>>> "NS" == Nathan Scott <nathans@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
NS> I think the reasons are mainly historical - on IRIX, the
NS> libirixpmda PMDA needs to be root to be able to make some
NS> of its system calls (and a couple of /dev/kmem reads), so
NS> pmcd needs to be root.
NS> pmcd also needs to write stuff into its log file, which is
NS> in a directory where only root can write (by default).
NS> I _think_ those are the only reasons... thats all I can
NS> remember off the top of my head, anyway.
Nathan is right about been root on Irix - on linux I've tried recently
to run pcp as non-priveleged user and the only problem I found was the
permissions on the log file, the rest just worked.
As far as changing the model, I don't see the reason (other then
paranoia) to be non-priveleged because it will mean we would have to
introduce a concept of "pcp" user (remeber, init scripts are all
started by root and unless we specifically change uid, we're not going
to get any advantage here). It will also mean that should in the
future we'd have to make some kind of fancy ioctl-ing, it may not work
from the non-priveleged user and Linux doesn't have capabilities
yet. Or does it?
max
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