Bug 3706

Summary: font server dies without "su"
Product: [Retired] Red Hat Linux Reporter: michael.waite
Component: XFree86Assignee: David Lawrence <dkl>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 6.0   
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
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Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 1999-07-15 21:22:06 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description michael.waite 1999-06-24 14:11:46 UTC
Here is the init script that starts xfs:
grep su /etc/init.d/xfs
        daemon --check xfs su xfs -c xfs -s /bin/sh
        touch /var/lock/subsys/xfs
        rm -f /var/lock/subsys/xfs
        if [ -f /var/lock/subsys/xfs ]; then
            daemon --check xfs su xfs -c xfs -s /bin/sh
            touch /var/lock/subsys/xfs
We have no need for "su" on our systems and without it the
font server dies.
Then you must link the fonts manually.
Is there a way to not have "su" on the system and still
have the fontserver running?

Comment 1 Preston Brown 1999-07-15 20:59:59 UTC
you may run the font server as root, but this opens you up to security
holes which you are trying to avoid.  su is not a security hole, it
has been thoroughly audited.  Why are you removing it?

The next release of our X packages will have XFree86-xfs depend on
/bin/su.  In the future, the xfs daemon may be rewritten so that it
drops root privileges and becomes suid xfs / sgid xfs, but not for
this release.

Comment 2 Preston Brown 1999-07-15 21:21:59 UTC
scratch that.  our next release of X will enable xfs to drop root
privileges and become the 'xfs' user if that user is present, if so
specified.  The init script will be adjusted accordingly.

Thanks for the feedback.