[LTP] [PATCH v5 02/10] shell API/tests: Require root for format/mount tests

[Petr Vorel]

> Hi!
> > > > Although the warning is quite obvious:
> > > > tst_device.c:101: TINFO: Not allowed to open /dev/loop-control. Are you root?: EACCES (13)
> > > > tst_device.c:140: TINFO: No free devices found
> > > > TBROK: Failed to acquire device

> > > > It's safer to expect root to get valid result.

> > > Another option would actually be to make the TST_NEED_DEVICE flag imply
> > > TST_NEEDS_ROOT flag, but I do not think that we have that for the C
> > > library either.
> > No, it does not imply in C API either. Yes, that would make sense for both API.
> > But I'd keep it as it is now and I'll do this change after the release,
> > Because I have other small fixes on API I'd like to post before the release.

> > BTW I always wondered why it was not done from the start, I thought there is a
> > reason for that (i.e. some special user with approved permissions).

> 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.
Agree. I wonder if anybody tests with this setup.
I guess people just test with root (which is the reason why some tests have to
switch to nobody).

Kind regards,
Petr