[lug] Linux Single User/Embeded (HELP?)

[Lynn Danielson]

"Sebastian Sobolewski ( Zeb )" wrote:
> 
>         What I'm trying to figure out how to make this thing work right under
> Linux.  For now I hacked the Run Level 1 scripts to run the app, but I
> really don't want it running as root.  What I really want is for Linux to
> automagically login as a user with permissions to only run this app, while
> still allowing someone else to switch to a different virtual console and be
> able to login as root without disturbing the app. (AKA in multi-user
> mode)  I need other services like http running for some remote access
> stuff, as well as needing to be able to mount remote SMB shares on that
> computer.  Security (As in someone hacking the box) is really not much of
> an issue since the computer will be running in an industrial environment
> with a controlled network connection. (No outside world link)  I just want
> to make sure an operator doesn't accidental nuke the OS.
> 
>         Has anyone here done anything like this before? Is there a clean way of
> doing this? I looked at the HOW-TO-S and they don't cover anything like
> this :(.

Sean Reifschneider showed me a trick that we used for the CLIQ registration
stations.  The machines booted up into a Netscape kiosk mode run as a specific
user.  Sean accomplished this by customizing a runlevel (4 is usually a
good candidate) and setting that runlevel to be the default in inittab.
Using the respawn directive the command will automatically get rerun if
it is interrupted.

Something like this:

    id:4:initdefault:
    XX:4:respawn:su - username -c /fullpath/command

It seems that this trick may work for you as well.  Hope it helps.

Lynn Danielson