On Mon, 26 Feb 2001 05:30:26 Jerry Human wrote:
[frustrations snipped]
>So my question today is two fold: (a) where can I finally learn how to
>handle permissions in different contexts, and (b) how can I set up rdate
>to set the system time when run as user?
Don't run rdate as a normal user. Set it up in a root crontab that runs once
a day:
crontab -e
and add lines like this:
# See "man 5 crontab" for format details.
#
# min hour dom mon dow command
19 03 * * * rdate -s TIMESERVER
As for the permissions thing, here's a simple rule of thumb. If you are
trying to do something to the machine that would be visible/detectable to
other users, then you probably need root privileges to do it.
For instance, if you are doing something to the network interface or the way
the machine handles mail, then those things would be visible to other users
when they attempted to use the network or send mail. Those things can only
be reconfigured by root. If you change the time, another user would be able
to see that when their desktop starts (assuming they have a clock -- most
do). So changing the system time can only be done as root. If you are
installing an application that could be run by all users, that application
will likely be installed in the /usr or /usr/local hierachies, which
normally are only writeable by root.
This rule of thumb is not perfect, but it should get you in the right frame
of mind to administrate a multiuser operating system.
Tony
--
Anthony E. Greene <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.pobox.com/~agreene/>
PGP Key: 0x6C94239D/7B3D BD7D 7D91 1B44 BA26 C484 A42A 60DD 6C94 239D
Chat: AOL/Yahoo: TonyG05 ICQ: 91183266
Linux. The choice of a GNU Generation. <http://www.linux.org/>
_______________________________________________
Redhat-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
