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Date:      18 Sep 2002 22:57:31 -0400
From:      Lowell Gilbert <freebsd-questions-local@be-well.no-ip.com>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Monunting /etc read-only was Re: mount read only ...
Message-ID:  <441y7q3cv8.fsf@be-well.ilk.org>
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20020918181508.00bc9da0@mail.lusidor.com>
References:  <5.1.0.14.0.20020918121808.00be1e30@mail.lusidor.com> <5.1.0.14.0.20020917103713.032c3950@mail.lusidor.nu> <5.1.0.14.0.20020917103713.032c3950@mail.lusidor.nu> <5.1.0.14.0.20020918121808.00be1e30@mail.lusidor.com> <5.1.0.14.0.20020918181508.00bc9da0@mail.lusidor.com>

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Jimmy Lantz <jimmy.lantz@lusidor.com> writes:

> At 11:18 2002-09-18 -0400, you wrote:
> >Jimmy Lantz <jimmy.lantz@lusidor.com> writes:
> >
> > > ><snip>
> > > > > I'm looking for away to write protect
> > > > > some files whats the pros and cons
> > > > > with having the file on a seperate partition and mount that read-only
> > > > > or use the chflags schg and go to kernel security level 2?
> > > >
> > > >*Either* way you probably want to raise the security level.  A
> > > >read-only mount doesn't help if it can be re-mounted writeable.  If
> > > >the files *have* to be in the same directory with writeable files (as
> > > >for many systems is true of /etc), schg can be a very good solution.
> > > What in /etc needs to writeable? I was just thinking to mount it read-only.
> >
> >That's perfectly possible; you just have to work on it a bit,
> >especially if you have a large user base.
> 
> Would you care to elaborate on this one? What would need work?
> The system in question will only have one wheel user login via SSH,
> ther rest is only deamons or nobody.
> Is there a FAQ/HOWTO/ or any online info cause google turns up nill on
> the topic?

I'm starting to get the feeling I'm doing someone's homework for them,
but here goes anyway.  The only significant issue with /etc is the
password file.  If you arrange your environment to avoid changes to
it, you can run with a read-only /etc.  You would also want to run at
securelevel 2, because you won't get much gain from a read-only
filesystem if it can be changed to read-write easily.  Therefore, any
changes to the system configuration will involve a reboot.

What gets trickier is running with a read-only /usr.  There's a whole
section on that in the handbook, but that is less of a security issue
than one of being able to share the filesystem between systems.

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