Doing administration tasks without administrative privileges.
5
votes
3answers
202 views
Preventing binary planting attacks in Linux
If a user account on a Linux machine is compromised, clearly, all files owned by that user are compromised.
Unfortunately, if the compromised user also has sudo privileges, it seems that binary ...
1
vote
1answer
108 views
Installing software as user
I need to install some software as user on a machine where I don't have root access.
So far I've been using gentoo-prefix, but ain't really fine with it: I need GCC 4.6 and gentoo only ships 4.5, I ...
2
votes
2answers
682 views
Installation on debian 5 32-bit without being a root
I am new to Linux and I am trying to install Skype and Google Chrome on my desktop. It runs Debian 5 32-bit. I downloaded the packages from the web but I have no idea how to install them. I have ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
Apt-get autocompletion
I am currently running 64-bit Debian Wheezy.
I am having some trouble with auto completion for apt-get. I have bash-completion installed.
If I am logged in as root in a shell, I can use auto ...
5
votes
1answer
214 views
suid-root doesn't have effect
A program from apue.
#include "apue.h"
#include <fcntl.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
if(argc!=2)
err_quit("usage: a.out <pathname>");
if(access(argv[1], ...
3
votes
3answers
437 views
Shutting down from X without a desktop environment
I have recently given up my Desktop Environment and am now only using a Window Manager (i3) and X. It all works very well and I do not miss much. Except for one thing: the shutdown button. I can now ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
Why can't a normal user `chown` a file?
Why is the chown command root-only?
Why can't non-root users use chown to give away files they own?
2
votes
3answers
870 views
Logged on via ssh-key, can I reset my account password?
I am logged in on a server via sshkey (ssh -i /home/me/.ssh/ssh-key me@server).
I got sudo rights on that server from the admin, but I can't exercise them, since I forgot my actual Unix password (or ...
4
votes
1answer
150 views
Is it possible to have X parse a per-user configuration file?
I am thinking that many of the options that one has to write in the traditional system Xorg.conf file, have to do with user preferences and thus should not IMHO be set by system administrators. In ...
5
votes
3answers
3k views
How to get dmidecode information without root privileges?
I'm writing a program that displays various system information (on a CentOS system). For example, the processor type and speed (from /proc/cpuinfo), the last boot time (calculated from /proc/uptime), ...
2
votes
2answers
742 views
How to set the default gcc version for only one user
I share a server (Ubuntu 11.04) with other people and I am the only one who has to use gcc 4-4 for my code, the rest is using 4.5. I already installed gcc 4.4 but how do I make it the default for me, ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Don't require root to add printers
When a user wants to add a new printer it's asking for a root password. I have an LTSP environment and the system is asking for a root password all the time; it's not asking even for a sudo'ed user's ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Is it possible to run a webdav fuse client with no root access?
I have seen examples showing how to use davfs2 under linux, but each has involved one of these things:
Running mount as root
Adding an entry to /etc/fstab
Running mount.davfs setuid, which, alas, ...
5
votes
3answers
364 views
Can I have my own version control system?
In the linux/unix machine I am using, I am just a normal user. However, I want a version control system to manage my files to prevent accidental delete/rename/lost/modification. Obviously I don't have ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Are there any better/safer methods to launch the OpenVPN client as a normal user?
I'm trying to connect to an OpenVPN server. It works perfectly when I use root to give out the commands to connect:
openvpn /etc/openvpn/client.conf
but with a normal user I get this error messages ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Unable to mount NTFS partition from user account
I'm trying to mount a Windows ntfs partition on openSuse 11.4. When I mount it using the root account (either directly or via sudo) it mounts without problems. But when I try mounting it without any ...
4
votes
2answers
250 views
Permanently switching to zsh in a script, without being root and without being asked for the password
Is there any way to run chsh -s /bin/zsh without being root and without being asked for the password? I want to put it into a non-interactive script that isn't called by root.
2
votes
2answers
683 views
Can I allow a non-root user to log in when /etc/nologin exists?
Suppose a non-root user with sudo privileges executes a delayed shutdown (shutdown +10 or whatever) and logs out. Then, before the shutdown occurs, he wants to log back in and cancel the shutdown. The ...
6
votes
3answers
5k views
Installing a .deb package in home directory
Is it possible to install a .deb package completely under my home directory at debian?
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Disable Address space layout randomization (ASLR) for my processes
I want to run some programs in Linux where I want to disable Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). I know to disable it at system level, which is by setting /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space to ...
6
votes
3answers
243 views
How can I build and install PL/R as a non-privileged user?
There is a postgres instance, and I have the ability to build my own instance.
Using these instructions I ran:
USE_PGXS=1 make
which worked but then
USE_PGXS=1 make install
did not, with this ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
Read/Write to a Serial Port Without Root?
I'm writing an application to read/write to/from a serial port in Fedora14, and it works great when I run it as root. But when I run it as a normal user I'm unable to obtain the privileges required to ...
2
votes
1answer
954 views
Do I need root (admin) permissions to run userspace 'perf' tool? (perf events are enabled in Linux kernel)
Do I need to have to run perf userspace tool as system administrator (root), or can I run it (or at least some subcommands) as an ordinary user?
5
votes
6answers
2k views
Install virtual machine as non-root?
Is it possible to install any virtual machine software as non-root user and run it ?
Which VM's are possible to be installed with out need of root access ?
If it is not possible what would be the ...
3
votes
1answer
283 views
Installing Gentoo packages as an ordinary user (non-root)
Is it possible to install Gentoo packages (ebuild-enabled programs, programs with support for portage) as an ordinary user (non-root) to one's own home directory (--prefix=$HOME or sth. like that)?
2
votes
1answer
309 views
How to execute udhcpc as non-root
On a Linux machine, I am trying to run the udhcpc command as non-root. I am getting the error udhcpc: socket: Operation not permitted. Is there any way to execute udhcpc as a simple user in Linux?
22
votes
4answers
6k views
Can I create a user-specific hosts file to complement /etc/hosts?
Is it possible to add a list of hosts that are only specific to a certain user? Perhaps a user-specific hosts file?
This mechanism should also complement the entries in the /etc/hosts file.
2
votes
1answer
155 views
I shouldn't use root on my new ubuntu cloud instance, right?
I am playing with ubuntu on my new Rackspace cloud instance. However, the information they give me is for root access -- that doesn't seem like a best practice for doing development on this thing.
...
6
votes
1answer
7k views
Installing Chrome on Linux without needing to be root
How can I install Chrome on Linux without needing to log in as root?
Note that I want to use Chrome, not Chromium.
If I go to the official download page, I get the choice between:
Please select ...
10
votes
6answers
4k views
Can I create override dns similar to writing in /etc/hosts without root access
I want to set a dns record that my browser will use, but I don't have root access, so I can't modify /etc/hosts. I need to do this for testing vhosts with apache, whose dns hasn't yet been set up. I ...
12
votes
3answers
2k views
How to “jail” a process without being root?
Were I root, I could simply create a dummy user/group, set file permissions accordingly and execute the process as that user. However I am not, so is there any way to achieve this without being root?
21
votes
7answers
2k views
Non-Root Package Managers
From my research, I seem to notice that all package managers insist on being used as a privileged user and must be installed into /.
Typically, what I like to do is create a throwaway account, ...
2
votes
3answers
608 views
Is there a linux vfs tool that allows bind a directory in different location (like mount --bind) in user space?
For a user process, I want to mount a directory in other location but in user space without root privilieges. Something like mount --bind /origin /dest, but with a vfs wrapper. Like a usermode ...
