Trevor Vallender <t...@tsv.me.uk> asked: > I am designing a system in which scripts are installed into their own > directory, by a non-root user, under their home directory. > > It is very important they not be allowed to write anywhere outside the > directory they are installed in. There are two ways I thought of doing > this; create a user for each script to run as, without permission to see > outside of its directory, or run in a chroot. > > My problem here is both of these methods need root privileges to get > started, and for the life of me I cannot think how to get around this. > Is there any way at all to create a chroot-like environment without root > privileges?
You don't mention on which OS you're trying to implement this, but if it's Linux, then maybe SELinux (http://selinuxproject.org/page/Main_Page) might be a solution for you. When I had similar requirements in the past, I've always opted for a chroot-based solution, though - mainly because I knew I could make it work with limited effort. What I'd do is run a ssh daemon in a chroot jail and then make my unprivileged users connect to that instead of the "real" system. HTH, Thomas
