KPPP

[Homer]

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 1:20 PM, Reinhold Rumberger <rrumberger at web.de> wrote:
> 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...

I'm encouraged my post has been generating some response, but I don't
want to lose sight of the big picture.  And that is, KPPP does not
function on my fresh 9.10 install.

BTW, I am in the dialout group.