Subject: Re: pkg/31547 (gnupg needs setuid-bit on Linux)
To: None <rillig@NetBSD.org, gnats-admin@netbsd.org,>
From: Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@britannica.bec.de>
List: pkgsrc-bugs
Date: 12/27/2006 23:20:04
The following reply was made to PR pkg/31547; it has been noted by GNATS.
From: Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@britannica.bec.de>
To: joel@carnat.net
Cc: gnats-bugs@NetBSD.org, rillig@netbsd.org,
linux-pkg-people@netbsd.org, pkgsrc-bugs@netbsd.org,
gnats-admin@netbsd.org, joerg@netbsd.org
Subject: Re: pkg/31547 (gnupg needs setuid-bit on Linux)
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:14:59 +0100
On Thu, Dec 28, 2006 at 02:11:52AM +0100, joel@carnat.net wrote:
> I don't know what is right on NetBSD platform, but what the FAQ says is:
>
> 6.1 Why do I get "gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!"
> On many systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This is
> necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
> operating system from writing them to disk and thereby keeping your secret
> keys really secret. If you get no warning message about insecure memory
> your operating system supports locking without being root. The program
> drops root privileges as soon as locked memory is allocated.
> ...
> If you can't or don't want to install GnuPG setuid(root), you can use the
> option "--no-secmem-warning"
You can also disable the warning in the config file. Explaining why it
might be wanted or not is what I want to see in the man page.
On the NetBSD for example, there's a normal rlimit on the number of
locked pages, unless you go over that limit you don't need setuid at
all.
Joerg