<html><body><div>So, even though collectd runs by default as root,</div><div>none of its children can be so-configured, due to a decision</div><div>shown in:</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Plugin:Exec" data-mce-href="https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Plugin:Exec">https://collectd.org/wiki/index.php/Plugin:Exec</a></div><div><br></div><div>which restricts Exec-based plugins to using uid!=0 as the</div><div>uid for the running collectors as children of collectd:</div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;" data-mce-style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">"The security concerns are addressed by forcing the plugin to check that custom programs are never executed with superuser privileges. If the daemon runs as root, you </span> <em style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;" data-mce-style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">have to</em> <span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;" data-mce-style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;"> configure another user ID with which the new process is created."</span></div><div><br></div><div>This is a half-hearted, strange attempt to draconianly</div><div>say "all uid=0" is bad and feels suspiciously nannyish, big-government.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact, there are many commands which require root to</div><div>access protected files or devices and which do not have</div><div>non-Exec collectd-generic-support but constitute invaluable</div><div>information to have collected, graphed and alarmed on.</div><div><br></div><div>I am surprised at the above decision and am asking</div><div>the community how you collect root-accessible-only data</div><div>in collectd when there no plugin exec, nor otherwise, to collectd.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>