Re: User-level Tasks in Hotplug Scripts?

[jg pa dec com (Jim Gettys)]

-
> From: 520047054719-0001 t-online de (Oliver Neukum)
> Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 23:02:11 +0100
> To: jg pa dec com (Jim Gettys), David Brownell <david-b pacbell net>
> Cc: Ryan Shaw <ryan shaw stanfordalumni org>,
>         linux-hotplug-devel lists sourceforge net, wm-spec-list gnome org,
>         xpert xfree86 org
> Subject: Re: User-level Tasks in Hotplug Scripts?
> -----
> On Saturday 02 February 2002 21:55, Jim Gettys wrote:
> > OK, folks (both X and wm-spec-list folks, that is, that I've added to
> > this thread):
> >
> > How do we want to solve this problem?
> >
> > We need a secure, interoperable way for configuration scripts running
> > as root to pop up configuration GUI's on user's servers, and we need it
> > soon (yesterday), as hot-plug is now a reality on Linux systems....
>
> Is there anything wrong with the simplistic approach of having a demon
> listening on a socket? If you want it generic, you have to use generic
> means of communication.
>

You don't want to pass out permission to access your X server to anyone
who happens to ask for it (if you do, you've compromized everything,
or go down into compartmentalized workstation hell, someplace where we
went 10 years ago and found fundamentally painful).
So the issue is fundamentally one of authenticating
the configuration GUI's process to the X server to allow connection.

The other issue is how to associate the correct X display server with the
hotplug event, so that the correct user is notified.  As I pointed out,
this is not necessarily local to the machine where the hotplug occurred.
                                    - Jim