KPPP

[Reinhold Rumberger]

Am Mittwoch 18 November 2009 schrieb Mark Greenwood:
> On Wednesday 18 Nov 2009 00:39:08 Derek Broughton wrote:
> > Homer wrote:
> > > Thank you for your comments:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 12:44 PM, Mark Greenwood
> > > <fatgerman at ntlworld.com>
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >> On Tuesday 17 Nov 2009 18:30:37 Homer wrote:
> > >>> Fresh install of 9.10.  In the past when I have done fresh
> > >>> installs, I've been able to copy over my kppprc file and
> > >>> everything picked up where I left off.  This time I'm
> > >>> experiencing something different...
> > >>>
> > >>> 1.  When I start KPPP I have to enter my password.  How can
> > >>> I set it up so it runs as a regular user?
> > >>
> > >> KPPP needs root permissions because PPP needs root
> > >> permissions. If it worked differently before then lord knows
> > >> how they did that.
> >
> > ppp (and kppp) _don't_, and never have, need to be run as root. 
> > However, back around 2000, a change was made in Debian, which is
> > also in Ubuntu, that used a default setting that _does_ need
> > root.  It was a totally stupid idea, caused numerous people to
> > be confused and upset, and had exactly the opposite effect to
> > that which was desired, because most people simply removed the
> > setting anyway.  It quite rightly assumes that for _dial in_,
> > you should be root, but even then, if the option is set in one
> > of the "provider" configurations, rather than the base config,
> > it doesn't require root permission.  Of course, very few single
> > user systems actually used dial-in then, and even fewer now.
> 
> Well that's news to me :) PPP on Linux has needed root permissions
>  ever since I started using it.... ooo around 2001.. :)

Wasn't there some sort of dialout group just so that you *wouldn't* 
need root access? But then, I haven't had a need for ppp in a 
while...

  --Reinhold