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Date:      Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:58:48 +0100
From:      dick hoogendijk <dick@nagual.nl>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: restrict FreeBSD users to their home directory
Message-ID:  <20081026165848.f720da24.dick@nagual.nl>
In-Reply-To: <20081026131450.GA82837@slackbox.xs4all.nl>
References:  <20081026085332.GA97254@slackbox.xs4all.nl> <NBECLJEKGLBKHHFFANMBGECCCMAA.joeb@a1poweruser.com> <20081026131450.GA82837@slackbox.xs4all.nl>

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On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:14:50 +0100
Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 08:19:51PM +0800, joeb wrote:
> <snip>
> >> > I don't want them to be able see any system directories or other
> >> > users?
> >> 
> >> User directories are by default both owned by the user and belong
> >> to the user's group. So you can set the umask for every user so
> >> that their files are not accessible to others.
> >> 
> >> You cannot block read and execute access to a lot of system files
> >> (binaries, libraries, /usr/[local/]share/) without making the
> >> system useless.
> >> 
> >> What is the problem you're trying to solve? Blocking read access to
> >> system files is almost certainly the wrong solution.
> >> 
> > Want to keep all the users from being able to see anything outside
> > of their home directory using gnome or kde desktop. 
> 
> I ask again, why? 

The only thing I can imagine is that he is worried about the privacy of
other users files. If that is the case a chmod 700 on the directories
and a chmod 600 on the (user) files would give a little privacy for
others. It's very difficult to see each others files that way.

As you already stated: system files are a totally different story.
Users should not have to worry about them.

> Realize that if the users have physical access to the machine, these
> security measures are _useless_. A hostile user could take out the
> harddisk, put it in a machine where he has a root account and read all
> the disk's contents (unless it's encrypted).

You're right here but I get the feeling this is beside the point of the
OP question. ;-)

-- 
Dick Hoogendijk -- PGP/GnuPG key: 01D2433D
++ http://nagual.nl/ + SunOS sxce snv99 ++



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