Users and Groups

[Karl Larsen]

Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Dec 2007, Karl Larsen wrote:
>
>   
>> Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>>     
>
>   
>>> but there's a *reason* it's done this way, karl.  typically, when
>>> you start adding new users, you're not going to add them to the
>>> system groups.
>>>       
>
>   
>>    I was not adding a new user or group.
>>     
>
> that's not the point.  you were complaining originally that you
> couldn't see all the users and groups on the system.  and i explained
> why that's actually a good thing -- because, for the most part, you
> shouldn't *need* to see those users or groups, unless you're doing
> something unusual.
>
> if you truly need to see them, then it's a simple mouse click.  but
> unless you do, there's no need to have them cluttering up your dialog
> box.  do you see the point i'm trying to make?
>
>   
>> Why did someone invent "usermod"? And when you do a ls -l on
>> /dev/ttyS0, the first serial port you notice:
>>
>> [root at k5di ~]# ls -al /dev/ttyS0
>> crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 4, 64 2007-12-07 04:52 /dev/ttyS0
>> [root at k5di ~]#
>>
>> The only way I can ever use Com1 is to be root or belong to the uucp
>> Group.
>>     
>
> not necessarily.  depending on how you access that port, it might have
> its attributes changed to match yours automatically.  from my system:
>
> $ ls -l /dev/console
> crw------- 1 rpjday root 5, 1 2007-12-06 03:17 /dev/console
>
> notice how i'm the owner of /dev/console?  i never changed that
> ownership -- that was done for me based on the fact that that's how i
> logged in.  and if you run an application that needs to access the
> serial port, that *application* might do that for you automatically as
> well.
>
> if you truly want to access the serial port directly, then, yes, you
> might need to change its attributes, but that doesn't mean you *need*
> to add yourself to the uucp group -- it just means you need to change
> the owner or group on the serial port temporarily.  that's probably
> going to be a lot easier than adding yourself to system groups.
>
>   
>>>   you generally need a really good reason to add a user to a
>>> system group.
>>>
>>>       
>>    I and many others will find really good reasons.
>>     
>
> no, karl ... you might find *a* reason.  but it won't be a good one.
> as i pointed out above, there is a much easier way to accomplish what
> you're trying to do.
>
> rday
>
> ========================================================================
> Robert P. J. Day
> Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
> Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
>
> http://crashcourse.ca
> ========================================================================
>
>   
Point out to me any other way to do what I am now doing. My application 
does not make /dev/ttyS0 belong to me.

Karl


-- 

	Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
	Linux User
	#450462   http://counter.li.org.