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Here's a simple experiment. On a Linux box, open your GUI text editor. Try to open /var/log/syslog. You will see "Permission denied". That's because only apps w
by mirimir 7y ago
Here's a simple experiment. On a Linux box, open your GUI text editor. Try to open /var/log/syslog. You will see "Permission denied". That's because only apps with root can access /var/*.
- JadeNB 7y agoI agree that's a simple experiment. What does it demonstrate?
- mirimir 7y agoYou said this: > I assume that anything I install has whatever privileges I have (or root privileges, given the broken must-install-as-root behaviour of many of them). My point is that Linux apps don't have general root rights. Even though you must install them as root. That is, unless you start them as root. So an app can't just decide to access and change some other app's settings.
- JadeNB 7y ago> My point is that Linux apps don't have general root rights. Even though you must install them as root. That is, unless you start them as root. I'm running macOS, so this isn't directly relevant; I don't know much about Linux apps, but macOS ones often do some skulduggery—for example, Dropbox uses its root installation privileges to make some very hard-to-eradicate startup items (https://applehelpwriter.com/2016/08/29/discovering-how-dropbox-hacks-your-mac https://applehelpwriter.com/2016/08/29/discovering-how-dropb...). Nonetheless, you are right that I was confusing "installed as root" with "has root privileges". > So an app can't just decide to access and change some other app's settings. Hopefully!—at least if this happens it's a bug.