why does x work only as root?
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From: NVangogh on 21 Aug 2008 22:23 if i try to start it as ordinary user there are lots of error messages (posted in earlier thread already) but seems to work fine as root.
From: Andrew Reilly on 22 Aug 2008 00:20 On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:23:07 +0100, NVangogh wrote: > if i try to start it as ordinary user there are lots of error messages > (posted in earlier thread already) but seems to work fine as root. Because it needs to open, map and write to the graphics device, and for whatever reason it's always been thought that that would be a bad thing for unprivileged processes to be able to do. Large chunks of the X server tends to blur the destinction between what you would expect to find in a device driver and what should be in user space. You certainly don't want something as large and gnarly as X to be part of the kernel, but you do want it to be able to do some things that usually only kernel things can. So it's a special case. Often enough people come up with designs for abstractions and what-not that would allow for a more traditional server/device split, and that would probably allow the server to run untrusted, but historically those sorts of things have made the server run slower, and hardly anyone likes that. -- Andrew
From: NVangogh on 22 Aug 2008 09:54 On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:20:59 +0000, Andrew Reilly wrote: > On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:23:07 +0100, NVangogh wrote: > >> if i try to start it as ordinary user there are lots of error messages >> (posted in earlier thread already) but seems to work fine as root. > Ok - so how do i fix it so an normal user can run x?
From: Lowell Gilbert on 22 Aug 2008 10:57 NVangogh <artist(a)thegallery.net> writes: > if i try to start it as ordinary user there are lots of error messages > (posted in earlier thread already) but seems to work fine as root. Running at a raised securelevel? Are you sure the messages you posted earlier are the ones you're getting now? -- Lowell Gilbert, embedded/networking software engineer http://be-well.ilk.org/~lowell/
From: Steve O'Hara-Smith on 22 Aug 2008 11:15
On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:54:21 +0100 NVangogh <NVangogh(a)artgallery.net> wrote: > On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:20:59 +0000, Andrew Reilly wrote: > > > On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:23:07 +0100, NVangogh wrote: > > > >> if i try to start it as ordinary user there are lots of error messages > >> (posted in earlier thread already) but seems to work fine as root. > > > Ok - so how do i fix it so an normal user can run x? There are two options - one run xdm (or similar) from boot so that X runs as root and xdm provides a graphical login - two make Xorg setuid root (chmod +s /usr/local/bin/Xorg) and use startx. -- C:>WIN | Directable Mirror Arrays The computer obeys and wins. | A better way to focus the sun You lose and Bill collects. | licences available see | http://www.sohara.org/ |