startup scripts in /usr/local/etc/rc.d

[Lowell Gilbert]

David Bear <David.Bear at asu.edu> writes:

> I am wondering if scripts in /usr/local/etc/rc.d MUST be owned by root
> in order to be run.

No.  They have to be executable by root.

> If I have a daemon on want started, AND I want it to run as user
> "DORK", can I have the binary and the startscript owned by user "DORK"
> in order to have it started that way?

It will run, but it will still run as root.

> the more I think about this, the more I get confused...

Apparently.

> If a startup script lives in /usr/local/etc/rc.d does its ownership
> determine the ownership of the process it starts?

No.

> or is the the owner of the binary the script starts that determines
> the owner of the process

Not that either.

> And, if it needs to change ownership, is it up to the program itself
> to change who it runs as?  

The script can start a program under a different user if it wants.
Many of the standard ones do so, typically using su(1).

-- 
Lowell Gilbert, embedded/networking software engineer, Boston area: 
		resume/CV at http://be-well.ilk.org:8088/~lowell/resume/
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