>>>>> "db" == David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost> writes:
db> I believe that theoretically only the 'active' user on the
db> console should be able to mount anything, but I'm not sure
db> that restriction is working.
the idea of a console user is also broken because of
multihead/multiuser machines in schools or cafes, and because of the
``switch user'' feature. What's really needed is quite complicated:
(1) a way of grouping devices together, like screens, keyboards, USB
ports, sound cards, and the devices those things spawn, and (2) a way
to migrate the devices among sessions, and because of user switching,
not necessarily only when the sessions begin and end but sometimes
into and out of active sessions. and some devices would be excluded
from all groupings, like sound cards used for batch capture and boot
disks (whether USB or SATA or eSATA).
It probably needs to come first from gnome/kde though, and since the
corner cases of (2) are so complicated, (ex. is a bluetooth
association something descended from the USB port and ephemeral like a
disk that should stay with the user who attached it until it's
unplugged in spite of user switching because there might be open files
on it? something descended from the USB port and static that should
follow user switches like a wired keyboard/mouse or a sound card? or
something that should migrate across bluetooth AP's and login sessions
and stick with the user who first made the association like wallpaper
or ssh keys (behavior which the AP hardware probably doesn't support
but ought to be achievable with sufficient cleverness---virtual
random-uuid AP's that appear and disappear when their owning user logs
in and out)?) I don't think gnome/kde will ever have enough cleverness
to deliver (2) so limping along with the broken old-unix ``console
user'' idea seems the only option.
but, the ``console user'' model is already broken for most desktops on
most desks. It's only close to working for laptops.
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