[Nut-upsdev] Re: [nut-commits] svn commit r731

[Arjen de Korte]

>> The listen_add() function doesn't need root access, so this shouldn't be
>> a problem. Provided the listening socket is above 1023, setuptcp()
>> doesn't need root access either.
>
> of course
>
>> However I don't want to limit ourselves here
>> (there may be people wanting to setup a low port), so I want to setup
>> the server listening sockets as root at least at startup of upsd.
>
> that is a really bad idea.

Maybe it is, but it is what we have been doing for years. I don't want to
change this without fully understanding (and documenting) the changes and
the impact this may have on system administrators.

> root's socket ownership can have more consequences. don't do that.

Root doesn't own the socket, since we drop privileges before
backgrounding, just a short while later.

> there is no point in having nut using privileged ports.

Probably not, but I don't want to take the risk of breaking existing
configurations here. I wouldn't bet that nobody is running NUT on a
privileged port because of some insane corporate policy that doesn't allow
opening up high ports, while some low port is already opened up for
instance. Yes, that sucks, but unless there is a significant security
benefit to do otherwise, I'm not ready to change this.

Best regards, Arjen