[Fedora-livecd-list] Re: [Ovirt-devel] root access required?

[Douglas McClendon]

Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 08, 2008 at 12:03:21PM -0400, Perry N. Myers wrote:
>> Ben Guthro wrote:
>>> In my endeavor to set up a build environment for our developers  
>>> experimenting with oVirt / libvirt, I have come across a general 
>>> dislike that the build of the ovirt managed node requires the user to 
>>> be root.
> [...]
>> The dependency on needing root is inherited from livecd-tools.  So for us 
>> to remove root as a requirement for building this needs to be changed  
>> upstream.  I'd start by posting questions/requests to the livecd mailing  
>> lists and see if the developers there can easily fix this.
>>
>> Once root is not longer required for livecd-tools, we will be able to  
>> build everything in ovirt as non-root.
> 
> I would also LOVE to see livecd-creator not needing root.  Has anyone
> talked to the livecd developers about this (email CC'd)?  I can't find
> any recent discussion on their mailing list about it though.

FWIW, I've done a lot of work over the years on my livecd creation
project (viros.org), and the main reason I worked on it instead of
solely on livecd-creator was a strong personal preference on not
requiring root.  My method for succeeding involves using qemu/kvm
appliances running just from a highly customized fedora-based
initrd-only system.  The result is that it is 6 odd times slower than
livecd-creator, but it doesn't require root.  Thinking about the
pre/post-inst rpm scripts being run under the limited protection of a
chroot in livecd-creator just doesn't sit well with me.

So it's definitely doable, but there is a price to pay.  Several aspects
that necessitated needing virtualization may now be doable via the fact
that fuse is enabled by default for users.  But I think there are still
a few places you need root (virtualized or not, but not just fakeroot)
to get the job done.

-dmc