Subject: Re: operator shutdowns and su
To: Julio M. Merino Vidal <jmmv84@gmail.com>
From: Hauke Fath <hauke@Espresso.Rhein-Neckar.DE>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 05/13/2006 18:00:48
At 13:12 Uhr +0200 13.5.2006, Julio M. Merino Vidal wrote:
>The mldonkey package in pkgsrc includes a rc.d script that launches
>the mldonkey daemon as an unprivileged user.  In order to do that, it
>defines the mldonkey_user variable which makes the rc.subr framework
>call 'su' where appropriate.
>
>This causes problems if you allow users in the 'operator' group to
>shutdown the machine.  When they issue a shutdown, rc.subr will ask
>mldonkey to stop by attempting to 'su' to the mldonkey_user.  This
>stalls the shutdown process because 'su' needs a password to continue.

Might be a common pattern for services that run with a distinct userid and
have to explicitely be stopped during system shutdown?

I remember similar issues with a postgresql installation, where the pgsql
shutdown failed because the user (member of group operator) could not su to
the pgsql user in order to stop the database.

	hauke

--
"It's never straight up and down"     (DEVO)