[collectd] [Bug 734179] [NEW] collectd runs as root unnecessarily

[Sebastian Harl]

Source: collectd
Version: 4.10.1-2.1
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

(With this E-mail, I'm also submitting this as wishlist bug report to
the Debian BTS and I'm going to fix it in my next upload. So, Ubuntu
should get that as well on the next sync after that.)

On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 07:04:39AM -0000, Andrew Yates wrote:
> The collectd init script runs collectd as root and does not provide a
> way to change the user in /etc/default/collectd. Many of collectd's
> plugins do not require root permissions, so USER and GROUP options
> should be included in the init script and default file.    (It might
> also be a good idea to run collectd as an unprivileged user by default.
> A quick test suggests that of the default plugins only 'df' may require
> root privileges.)

Fully agreed.

Also, I was thinking about (re)introducing a possibility to start
several instances of collectd with different configurations from one
init script, i.e. having the init script start one instance for each
configuration file found in some subdirectory. I'm not yet sure, how to
handle that properly. I guess, adding an option to /e/d/collectd to
specify that directory (empty by default) and then ignoring any other
files (including /e/collectd/collectd.conf) is the way to go.

Any comments, suggestions, questions about that?

Cheers,
Sebastian

-- 
Sebastian "tokkee" Harl +++ GnuPG-ID: 0x8501C7FC +++ http://tokkee.org/

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.         -- Benjamin Franklin

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