Changing Linux group permissions, was Re: [plug] RE: Sound Card

[Mike Holland]

On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Greg Mildenhall wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Mike Holland wrote:
> > And dont forget you need to log in again to re-read the groups file.
> > Thats very ms-windows-like, but you could just login on a single xterm
> > window to test it - e.g. telnet to yourself.

> NAME
>        newgrp - Change group ID
>
> SYNOPSIS
>        newgrp [-] [group]

Thanks Greg, but that doesnt seem to help much. Neater than telnet to
self, though.  We really want a way to add the group access to all a
user's processes, e.g. the gnome/kde sound server. The only way I know
is to effectively "reboot" the whole X gui. Though a more experienced user
could probably just restart the particular processes that require the new
permissions, in some cases.
   This issue must have been the topic of many arguments in the history of
Unix. Perhaps there is a good security reason for only checking group
permissions at login time??   Looks like a design weakness though.

   The 'newgrp' command is used to change a single shell's primary group,
ie the group owner of files it creates. Perhaps it is a hangover from the
old days before groups were used as a list of access permissions. It
doesnt update that list. Though it will allow a newly added group to be
the primary.

> DESCRIPTION
>        newgrp  is  used  to  change the current group ID during a
>        login session.  If the  optional  -  flag  is  given,  the
>        user's  environment  will  be  reinitialized as though the
>        user had logged in,  otherwise  the  current  environment,
>        including current working directory, remains unchanged.

-- 
Mike Holland  <mike at golden.wattle.id.au>
                          --==--
When a cow laughs, does milk come out of its nose?