Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: rmdir has become blind Message-ID: <1988Dec9.174647.3195@utzoo.uucp> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <579@mks.UUCP> <474@hvrunix.UUCP> <586@mks.UUCP> <13220@ncoast.UUCP> <595@mks.UUCP> Date: Fri, 9 Dec 88 17:46:47 GMT In article <595@mks.UUCP> wheels@mks.UUCP (Gerry Wheeler) writes: >The question is this: what is the purpose of the bin userid? Why not >just have all the stuff owned by root? ... The main idea is simply to make it possible to do system work without having to be root. Being root is dangerous, since it bypasses the whole protection system, and many types of system work don't require it, so long as it is possible to write on system files. Having said files owned by an otherwise-ordinary userid permits this. -- SunOSish, adj: requiring | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology 32-bit bug numbers. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu