[LTP] [PATCH 1/2] lib: Add checking of needs_root

[Petr Vorel]

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ltp <ltp-bounces+tim.bird=sony.com@lists.linux.it> On Behalf Of Petr Vorel

> > Hi all,

> > The subject "lib: Add checking of needs_root" is a bit misleading
> > as it does not mention at all that it's for the loop device.

> > > We need to check needs_root is set when tst_test->needs_device or
> > > tst_test->mount_device is set since access the /dev/* need a
> > > privilege.

> > FYI we had some discussion about it, quoting Cyril [1]:

> > 	Well technically you can be added into whatever group is set to
> > 	/dev/loop-control e.g. disk group and then you can create devices
> > 	without a need to be a root.

> > 	So the most correct solution would be checking if we can access
> > 	/dev/loop-control if tst_test.needs_device is set and if not we would
> > 	imply needs_root. However this would need to be rethinked properly so
> > 	that we do not end up creating something complex and not really
> > 	required.

> > There is also possibility to add custom device via $LTP_DEV. That might allow to
> > add permissions which allow to test without root.

> > I'll write to automated-testing ML (and maybe to LKML ML) to see if people
> > prefers to test without non-root.

> I took a quick look at this, and don't like the change.

> I didn't investigate all the affected tests, and what device exactly is being protected.
> But the overall sense of the change takes makes the authorization checking for tests
> less granular.

> Fuego often runs tests as 'root', but it is also fairly common in Fuego to have a
> dedicated testing user account on a device under test, that has permissions
> for things like mounting, access to device nodes, etc.  This change
> would cause tests to break for that account.

Hi Tim,

thanks a lot for confirming that people are using non-root users for testing.
I'm not sure if we ever implement complex checks, but at least we should not
merge this patchset.

Kind regards,
Petr

> That's my 2 cents.
>  -- Tim