Date: 26 Oct 2000 01:15:10 -0000 From: mwm@mired.org To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org Subject: docs/22297: The FAQ entry for users mounting removable media needs updating Message-ID: <20001026011510.2715.qmail@guru.mired.org>
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>Number: 22297
>Category: docs
>Synopsis: The FAQ entry for users mounting removable media needs updating
>Confidential: no
>Severity: non-critical
>Priority: medium
>Responsible: freebsd-doc
>State: open
>Quarter:
>Keywords:
>Date-Required:
>Class: doc-bug
>Submitter-Id: current-users
>Arrival-Date: Wed Oct 25 18:20:02 PDT 2000
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator: Mike Meyer
>Release: FreeBSD 5.0-CURRENT i386
>Organization:
Meyer Consulting
>Environment:
People aren't often asking "how do I let users mount a floppy"; rather
they are asking "how do I let users mount a cdrom".
>Description:
I think the emphasis on floppies in the FAQ entry is making
them miss it. The FAQ entry is also missing a step (adding an
entry to /etc/sysctl.conf) and is overpermissive in setting
device permissions.
>How-To-Repeat:
Read -questions for a while, and watch.
>Fix:
The attached patch to the FAQ file adds CDROMs to the title and
procedure, lowers the device permissions a bit, including an
example on how to restrict the ability to a group, and adds the
sysctl.conf step. I reorganized the text a bit to work better
with the new information.
--- book.sgml Tue Oct 17 18:17:14 2000
+++ /tmp/book.sgml Wed Oct 25 20:14:12 2000
@@ -6343,7 +6343,7 @@
<qandaentry>
<question>
- <para>How do I let ordinary users mount floppies and other removable
+ <para>How do I let ordinary users mount floppies, CDROMs and other removable
media?</para>
</question>
@@ -6353,6 +6353,14 @@
<procedure>
<step>
+ <para>As <username>root</username> set the sysctl variable
+ <varname>vfs.usermount</varname> to
+ <literal>1</literal>.</para>
+
+ <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl -w vfs.usermount=1</userinput></screen>
+ </step>
+
+ <step>
<para>As <username>root</username> assign the appropriate
permissions to the block device associated with the
removable media.</para>
@@ -6360,33 +6368,47 @@
<para>For example, to allow users to mount the first floppy
drive, use:</para>
- <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>chmod 777 /dev/fd0</userinput></screen>
- </step>
+ <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>chmod 666 /dev/fd0</userinput></screen>
- <step>
- <para>As <username>root</username> set the sysctl variable
- <varname>vfs.usermount</varname> to
- <literal>1</literal>.</para>
+ <para>To allow users in the group
+ <username>operator</username> to mount the cdrom drive,
+ use:</para>
- <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl -w vfs.usermount=1</userinput></screen>
+ <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>chgrp operator /dev/cd0c</userinput>
+&prompt.root; <userinput>chmod 640 /dev/cd0c</userinput></screen>
</step>
+
+ <step>
+ <para>Finally, add the line
+ <literal>vfs.usermount=1</literal> to the file
+ <filename>/etc/sysctl.conf</filename> so that it is reset
+ at system boot time.</para>
+ </step>
</procedure>
- <para>Users can now mount <filename>/dev/fd0</filename> onto a
- directory that they own:</para>
+ <para>All users can now mount the floppy
+ <filename>/dev/fd0</filename> onto a directory that they
+ own:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput> mkdir ~/my-mount-point</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput> mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 ~/my-mount-point</userinput></screen>
+ <para>Users in group <username>operator</username> can now
+ mount the cdrom <filename>/dev/cd0c</filename> onto a
+ directory that they own:</para>
+
+ <screen>&prompt.user; <userinput> mkdir ~/my-mount-point</userinput>
+&prompt.user; <userinput> mount -t msdos /dev/cd0c ~/my-mount-point</userinput></screen>
+
<para>Unmounting the device is simple:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>umount <filename>~/my-mount-point</filename></userinput></screen>
<para>Enabling <varname>vfs.usermount</varname>, however, has
negative security implications. A better way to access MSDOS
- formatted media is to use the <ulink
- URL="http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=%5Emtools-&stype=name">mtools</ulink>;
- package in the ports collection.</para>
+ formatted media (<emphasis>not CDROMs</emphasis>) is to
+ use the <ulink
+ URL="http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=%5Emtools-&stype=name">mtools</ulink>; package in the ports collection.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
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