setuids() like setgroups() ?

Miquel van Smoorenburg (miquels@cistron.nl)
15 Apr 1999 21:06:31 +0200

I wonder if it would be a good idea to introduce a setuids() call that
behaves a bit like like setgroups(), in that it would be possible
with setuid() to switch between the uids.

That way, a multi-process server like apache would be able to switch
between used-ids for different virtual hosts, yet it wouldn't have to
keep running as root.

For it to be useful for apache (with perhaps hundreds of virtual hosts)
one should also be able to enter a range instead of a list of uids.

Is there any OS that already implements something like this which we
can model it after, or is there a way to tie this into the capability
system (I can't see how), or is this a plain stupid idea :/

Mike.

-- 
Indifference will certainly be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?


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