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Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2006 23:47:49 -0400
From: "Larry Hall (Cygwin)" <reply-to-list-only-lh AT cygwin DOT com>
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To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Running as root
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Stephen Grant Brown wrote:
> Hi Igor,
> 
>> If you want to do something more complex than fooling a broken program
>> into thinking that you're root, you might need to learn more about how
>> Windows privileges work.  Google, as always, is your friend, and
>> discussion like this is probably off-topic for this list.
> 
> I look at things differently as you and as most other people on this list.
> 
> When I download a program off the internet I expect it to run out of the 
> box.
> If a program does not run out of the box I expect to email a bug report 
> and get it fixed.
> Why put programs on the net that do not run?
> 
> I like the idea of unstable and stable programs.
> 
> The newbies use the stable programs. They download them and run them. 
> They do not see any programmiing or installation erros.
> 
> The people who want more functionality go to the unstable programs and 
> help debug them.
> 
> Doing it this way will keep a large percentage of the newbies from 
> asking newby type questions on this list. This will in turn allow the 
> experts to concentrate on developing the programs.


Huh?  I had to go back and re-read this thread to make sure my memory of it
wasn't faulty.  Low and behold, it wasn't.  Here's the synopsis:

  1. You send email to the list saying "I would like to run programs as root,
     which means the userid and group need to be set to 0, and the name needs
     to = root."

  2. Igor replies and says, essentially, that you really can't do things this
     way but if you need to for some reason, here are some possible
     workarounds.

  3. There's a brief back and forth where you're looking for more info and
     Igor quite reasonably responds that what you're looking for in generic
     terms doesn't make sense and asks if you can start giving some specifics
     about the program or programs that you're working with that you believe
     need to be run as root.  He also points you to Google to learn more about
     how Windows privileges work.

  4. "When I download a program off the internet I expect it to run out of
      the box."

That's a nice philosophy and in general, I agree with it.  But what *exactly*
does this philosophy have to do with Cygwin?  You're proceeding from a faulty
supposition.  There is no such thing as "root" on Windows.  Never has been.
Never will be.  If you need an exact concept of "root" under Windows, Cygiwn
isn't going to be able to provide this.  That's about as far as anyone on this
list is going to be able to take this subject without you being more specific
about what you're doing.  If you have a problem with a program that comes as
part of the Cygwin distribution (i.e. is part of one of the packages listed in
<http://cygwin.com/packages/>), then please tell us *exactly* what that
problem is.  We prefer such reports to adhere to the problem reporting
guidelines found at <http://cygwin.com/problems.html>.  So far this thread has
been very generic and pretty abstract.  As a result, it's going no-where
pretty fast.  If your issue is not Cygwin specific, then Googling for
information or finding a more appropriate forum is likely to be a better route
to the information you're looking for.  I believe that was the main point Igor
was trying to make with the piece of his last response that you quoted above.
So, if you could, please try to organize your thoughts on this subject and
come back to the list with some specific Cygwin problem if it turns out to be
one.  Tell us precisely what you trying to do and where you see problems.
I'm sure you'll get at least some good pointers to the information you need.

HTH,

-- 
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
216 Dalton Rd.                          (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746

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