Subject: Re: REAL_* variables for users and groups
To: NetBSD pkgsrc Discussion <tech-pkg@NetBSD.org>
From: Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@britannica.bec.de>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 10/21/2007 21:06:41
On Sun, Oct 21, 2007 at 08:54:38PM +0200, Roland Illig wrote:
> Currently, unprivileged.mk sets REAL_ROOT_USER to ROOT_USER in some cases. 
> I cannot see a value in having the REAL_* variables when they are not 
> really "REAL".

REAL_* are sure use in install/deinstall scripts and the other uses
outside the build process. REAL_ROOT_USER has a special use case for su
as well. Basically, the way the unprivileged overrides "fix" most of the
issues is to just substitute the user/group of the current user into the
Makefiles. This works fine for things like installing files, but doesn't
work well for rc scripts etc. This makes a huge difference if not all
groups are currently active or if you are using DESTDIR installation as
unprivileged user.

Joerg