Re: [gentoo-user] sudo in kernel config ?

[Stéphane Guedon]

Le Saturday 11 September 2010 11:46:59, Albert Hopkins a écrit :
> On Sat, 2010-09-11 at 10:24 +0200, Stéphane Guedon wrote:
> > few months ago, I read linux kernel in a nutschell(sic), and the author
> > wrote we shouldn't do kernel operations (config and build) as root.
>
> I call bullsh*t.  I've been compiling kernels for 17 years and for the
> most part have done it as root without any problems.
>
> What the author is saying is that, to an extent, in theory no one should
> compile anything as root, or really do anything non-system-adminly as
> root.  You should only do as root what is critically necessary (e.g.
> make install) as root.
>
> In a perfect, tidy world we'd all do that.  This world, however does not
> exist.  Even portage, by default does configure and make as root (albeit
> in a sandbox so it is safe(r).
>
> What the author means is theoretically the config/compile phase could
> unintentionally cause some kind of harm to your system.  In practice I
> have never seen this or heard of it.  The kernel devs are bright enough
> to ensure that the compilation does nothing outside the source tree
> itself.
>
> It's a good guideline but, like the government's dietary guidelines, not
> ones I intend to follow religiously.
>
> > Is sudo (or kdesudo ?) a good replacement to that ?
>
> sudo runs things as root, so effectively you've done nothing but add a
> password prompt to the mix.
>
> Gentoo actually makes this a bit more difficult, because usually one
> uses portage to install the kernel sources, and they get installed as
> root-owned, and only root has write access to the kernel tree.
>
> Some people, such as myself, use kernel sources outside of portage (I
> follow a git repo) and do so as a non-root user.  In this case the
> kernel tree is not owned by root and the config/compile is easily done
> as a non-root user.
>
> If you are super-paranoid.  You can make a non-root copy
> of /usr/src/linux and compile it as a non-root user.
>
> But there really isn't any point in using sudo.  It's effectively doing
> the same thing that you are trying to avoid.

I am not paranoid anymore, just asking to knowing persons...
Ok ! thanks for your answer !
-- 
Stéphane Guedon
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