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Date:      Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:02:00 -0800
From:      perryh@pluto.rain.com
To:        chris@childeric.freeserve.co.uk
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: what is operator group for?
Message-ID:  <45983358.Juh4OWC8uNEjIKjw%perryh@pluto.rain.com>
In-Reply-To: <4597CCA6.3080404@childeric.freeserve.co.uk>
References:  <4597CCA6.3080404@childeric.freeserve.co.uk>

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> can anyone tell me what the operator group is for, or docs where I can
> read about it? I see that /sbin/shutdown and /sbin/mk_snap_ffs are both 
> executable by members and various things in /dev/ are mountable by them.

My understanding is that group "operator" is intended for those who
deal with devices, e.g. running backups and monitoring printers.

> I want a regular user to be able to mount removeable media and shutdown 
> the computer. If I make them a member of operator group what else am I
> allowing them to do?

With the usual permission settings, you are also allowing them to read
disks directly (e.g. with dump(8)), and thus to read any file on the
system -- including the system's and other users' private key files.

One alternative is sudo.



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