From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 19 20:59:33 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB3F116A41F for ; Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:59:33 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from gs_stoller@juno.com) Received: from outbound-mail.nyc.untd.com (outbound-mail.nyc.untd.com [64.136.20.164]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 1BACA43D79 for ; Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:59:27 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from gs_stoller@juno.com) Received: from webmail38.nyc.untd.com (webmail38.nyc.untd.com [10.141.27.178]) by smtpout01.nyc.untd.com with SMTP id AABB4QH22AES4WVA for (sender ); Mon, 19 Dec 2005 12:59:04 -0800 (PST) Received: (from gs_stoller@juno.com) by webmail38.nyc.untd.com (jqueuemail) id LCL352U5; Mon, 19 Dec 2005 12:58:55 PST Received: from [67.84.55.15] by webmail38.nyc.untd.com with HTTP: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:58:41 GMT X-Originating-IP: [67.84.55.15] Mime-Version: 1.0 From: "gs_stoller@juno.com" Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:58:41 GMT To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailer: Webmail Version 4.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <20051219.125855.15860.149388@webmail38.nyc.untd.com> X-ContentStamp: 8:4:2116495045 X-UNTD-OriginStamp: /s5f1SIGSI3+WdnoYQ8yRKUN2Rb+YKG4u8L6sbzUNXsC8KexV9wUgg== X-UNTD-Peer-Info: 10.141.27.178|webmail38.nyc.untd.com|webmail38.nyc.untd.com|gs_stoller@juno.com X-Mailman-Approved-At: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:36:27 +0000 Subject: (no subject) X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:59:33 -0000 I discovered the user "operator" in UNIX , found it in the book "Essential System Administration" by AEleen Frisch, and it has features that I would like to use. The book says (on page 131) that this user exists on some BSD systems and it is used for back-ups and such. It is like superuser ( root ) in that it can access any file regardless of the permission bits, but it operates readonly, it cannot modify unless the permission bits allow it to do so. I checked /etc/passwd and found that operator is a user (in FreeBSD 4.3 ). When I tried it out, I found some directories that operator couldn't enter and checked a few of those directories and found that they gave absolutely no access to 'other' users, explaining why operator couldn't enter those directories. I feel that this is an error since it doesn't allow operator to do its stated task. Similarly, operator cannot access plain files unless the permission bits allow it to do so. Please implement this user as the book lists it, this will give the FreeBSD community a useful capability. We could check LINUX and see if they have have it properly implemented; if so we could copy it making the necessary changes, an easier task. uname -a for my system gives: FreeBSD 4.3-RELEASE FreeBSD 4.3-RELEASE #0: Sat Apr 21 10:54:49 GMT 200= 1 jkh@narf.osd.bsdi.com:/usr/src/sys/compile/GENERIC i386