RE: [PATCH] Single user linux

Torrey Hoffman
2001-04-24T16:55:50Z

> think about personal devices. something like the nokia communicator.
> a system security passwd is acceptable, but that's it. no those-
> device-user would like to know about user account, file ownership,
> etc. they just want to use it.

If you are making a personal device, like an "appliance", there is no
need to patch the kernel - at least not to remove the concept of users.

Instead, change your startup scripts. In that situation, you will have
a custom application that is automatically started at boot and runs with
enough privileges to do whatever it needs.

The user never sees a login prompt. If you want a Windows-95 style
setup for Linux, you can do that too - but don't run as root! Just have
the startup scripts auto-login as an unprivileged user.

Kernel patches to do this are completely unnecessary, and a bad idea.

Permissions are important to have on an appliance-like system, as they
can be used to help prevent the end user from accessing the guts of the
system which should be off limits for them.