CSS Negotiation question

[Tom]

On Tue, May 08, 2001 at 03:27:52PM -0400, Matthew Gabeler-Lee wrote:
> Every other linux dvd player out there needs to run as root to do key
> negotiation, even though my user has read/write privs on the device.
> The programs don't just bitch about being non-root, they actually get
> failed ioctls.  Vlc, on the other hand, works like a charm.  Does it
> install some suid helper program or something?  I find it quite bizarre
> that vlc can do key negotiation as non-root when nothing else can.  OK,
> come to think of it, oms can do the key stuff as non-root, I think, but
> most others can't.  This isn't a problem with vlc at all, just a point
> of curiosity for me.

you don't really *need* root for anything on a Linux system, most progs
that insist on it are just programmed lazily.
that said, the reason for the root requirement in dvd players is
usually that you need quite a lot of permissions - the screen, the
drive, audio devices, etc. as root you don't have to worry about those.

and no, as far as I'm aware, vlc doesn't install anything suid-root. as
a matter of fact, I've used it without ever becoming root 
(no "make install").

-- 
-- http://web.lemuria.org
--