Bug#737956: conflict between system user and normal user

peter green plugwash at p10link.net
Fri Feb 7 10:08:17 UTC 2014


>
> What is the correct way to deal with this kind of problem ? I cannot find in the policy something
> about conflict between system and non-system user.
>   
I don't think there is much that can reall be done to fix the 
fundamental problem which is that system users and regular users have to 
live in the same namespace causing a risk of conflicts.

There are two things I can see you could do to impreove the situation 
with your package.
1: Fail early, it's better to have preinst fail than it is to start 
creating stuff with wrong permissions/ownership.
2: Choose a less generic name that is less likely to cause conflicts. Do 
you plan to use this user only for the db? if so tango-db might make 
sense, if not maybe something like tango-control-system.



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