Hello, I was thinking about the fact that a "normal" user can add/rem packages to a system not only $HOME. The idea mentioned here is great. But what about linking pkg/patch tools to a PAM module(s) ? Or to some special privileges ?
best regards, Adrian. --- "James H. Falkner" <James.Falkner at Sun.COM> wrote: > All, > > I am proposing a new project to modify the Solaris > packaging and patching utilities (pkgadd, patchadd, > etc) to enable them to be used by ordinary users > with no special privileges. A summary of the > project is below. I'd like some feedback from the > community on this project. The technical stuff is > admittedly high-level but I think you will get the > general idea. There will be a follow-on design > review in this forum once additional details are > fleshed out and vetted through this community. > > Summary: > > This project modifies the Solaris packaging > and patching > utilities to allow non-root users to install > and manage > packages and patches, separate from the > system-level > packages, package database, and patch > database. > > Benefits: > > - Remove barrier to using native packaging on > Solaris. Many > software vendors spend effort producing > parallel distributions > not based on Solaris packages, or do not > produce package-based > distributions at all. This requires the > product group to re-invent > technology already available in the > packaging tools. > > - Reduce or eliminate need to rely on root > privileges and > root-owned artifacts, thereby meeting higher > security > and responsibility partitioning standards. > > High level Technical description: > > This proposal introduces changes into the > packaging and > patching utilities to realize the concept of > a "software domain", > similar to the concept of an alternate root, > but with different semantics. > > Users will install packages and patches > using similar interfaces > as the root user. The default install > locations will be relative > to $HOME. Package objects will all be owned > by the invoking user. > File locking semantics will be unchanged > from the root user's > usage. Scripts will be run as the invoking > user. > > Each domain has a "Domain-Home", under which > all softare belonging > to that domain is installed. This will by > default be within $HOME > for non-root users. > > Each domain has a sparse package registry of > only those packages > installed on that domain. The registry > shares the format of the > contents(4) file and by default is installed > into ~/.sunw, but is > overrideable with a CLI switch. > > Inter-domain dependencies are resolved by > following a per-user > Domain-Path variable (environment variable, > or CLI override). > The first domain able to satisfy the > dependency is used. > > The "root" domain (the one that exists today > on each Solaris > OS instance) is always part of everyone's > Domain-Path and is > used to satisfy package dependencies when no > other domain can. > > Restrictions: > > - Packages might need to be re-generated to > indicate > ready-for-UBI. Products not ready for UBI > must be flagged > > - Users should not be able to use domains as > basis of DOS > attack > > - Domains cannot exist within other domains. > This restriction > may be lifted in future work but for now, > this simplifies > logic and removes the need for recursion. > > - Domains might not always be "up" (i.e. > $HOME inaccessible) - > this mustn't cause hangs > > - Packages can specify architecture and > dependencies. This becomes > difficult to fully validate at install > time, given that the domain > may exist on a shared filesystem ($HOME). > Therefore, dependency > failures and mismatched architectures are > flagged as warnings. > pkgchk can always be used to check the > architecture and dependencies > at any time, so this is not seen as a > major issue. > > Interface changes: > > - package/patch utilities CLI changes for > software domains > - package/patch creation utilities > metadata for support of > software domains. > > Related Bugs/RFEs: > > 1249015 pkgadd requires root access > 1165888 allow non-root users to install > software using the > package mechanism > > > This message posted from opensolaris.org > _______________________________________________ > install-discuss mailing list > install-discuss at opensolaris.org > http://opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/install-discuss > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
