ksmarttray and updates

[Basil Chupin]

Stephen Boddy wrote:
[pruned]

> I must say that I disagree with their point of view. Yes, *smart* is designed 
> to be run as root. However, for me, *ksmarttray* is there to inform a normal 
> user (me) who's responsible for the the machine, that there are updates 
> available. AFAICT only ksmarttray uses smart-update, and having smart-update 
> setuid allows ksmart-tray to determine that there are updates. The only thing 
> smart-update is able to do when setuid is to update the channels with what is 
> available. It's not even strictly a part of smart proper, as it is in 
> contribs. This capability is no different to yast-watcher/software-updater. I 
> believe yast-watcher used an alternate directory for downloading information 
> on updates, then YOU had to repeat when run as root. Software-updater didn't 
> last long enough for me to ever understand how that tangled web of 
> incomprehensibility hung together, suffice to say it seemed even less 
> restrictive than this smart arrangement. I've previously stated my dislike of 
> a normal user being authorized to update a system, with no future 
> authorization, as the new zen appears to do.

[pruned]

Having now fully understood what you were on about and having put in the
'fix' in /etc/permissions.local suggested by Andreas and seeing what it
does, I now support your point of view and even if the developers of
smart won't do anything about it I certainly will continue to use the
'fix' because now smart DOES work like the old YOU in SuSE.

(As always, an argument developes over terminology used and how it is
interpreted. In this case I think the cause of the contention are the
words "update" and "upgrade" which are often used interchangeably. The
UPDATE is the one which does not require root permission; but when one
is to UPGRADE the system then it can only be done by root. The
ksmarttray thingie really does not require root permission.)

Cheers.


-- 
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