[vlc-devel] commit: Add --enable-run-as-root option to configure. (Antoine Cellerier )

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Le vendredi 19 septembre 2008 22:58:17 Antoine Cellerier, vous avez écrit :
> On Fri, Sep 19, 2008, git version control wrote:
> > Add --enable-run-as-root option to configure.
> >
> > Embedded platforms often only have the root user. Do not, I repeat, Do
> > not enable this option if you don't know what you're doing.
>
> I completely agree with our policy of not allowing runing VLC as root at
> all ... but some people don't and I thought that it wouldn't hurt to add
> this option, as long as it's a compile time option and default disabled.
>
> See http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=48356 for examples of
> people who really really really don't want to use VLC as another user
> then root.

I am also in the business of embedded _single_user_ device, and we still run 
applicatiosn as "user" not as root. The kernel has no option to remove UID 
and GID support, does it?

By putting the option we are basically saying "yeah, this is supported, just 
not by default", and then regular distros will start enabling it one by one 
as some insane users will file insane bugs.

If someone is too incomptent/lazy to implement user account, he can patch the 
code. At least then it's obvious that _we_ do not support the feature.

-- 
Rémi Denis-Courmont
http://git.remlab.net/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=vlc-courmisch.git;a=summary