Gary/Alan: >>>> When started via a display manager such as dtlogin or gdm, Xorg is started >>>> as uid 0 by the display manager, and once the user logs in via the display >>>> manager, it sets it's uid to the logged in user. (This is after >>>> initializing >>>> the hardware, setting the IOPL and mapping /dev/xsvc, so uid 0 is no longer >>>> needed at that point.) >>> >>> How about other "login" managers, like xdm and whatever KDE uses? >>> Wouldn't it be better for the X server to know when it's done >>> initializing and drop its privileges then? >> That is the as-yet-unfinished TCA from PSARC 2004/187 (the original Xorg in >> Solaris case): > > So reading between the lines "such as dtlogin or gdm" is a misstatement > and should read "dtlogin and gdm are the only functional display > managers" or some such cleanup. Grump, that should have been > a TCR and only a TCA if all display managers worked so that the > uid dance could be done. > > I guess not this case.....
I believe Xorg would be "functional" with other display managers, it just will run as root. So, in other words, using display managers other that CDE and GDM will not offer this security feature which is unique to Solaris. Other distros allow the Xserver to run as root. I think Alan is planning to add this enhancement to Xorg upstream so other display managers can also implement this security feature if desired. Brian
