Xserver needs to run as "root" on Linux / was: Re: [Xorg] Server side widgets

[Jakub Piotr Cłapa]

Jon Smirl wrote:
> Another thing to consider is that the entire VT system could be removed
> from the kernel and pushed into user space. Doing that will change how
> you implement the login screen.
> 
> There are two classes of output:
> printk, system boot, kdbg, ie kernel things
> everything else
> 
> kernel things need to be displayed from inside the kernel
> everything else can be displayed from user space
> 
> Which group is the login screen in?

IMO the login screen itself belongs to the userspace but it shouldn't 
really matter for its security. We would only need kernel providing a 
way to switch the keyboard to a special mode in which the keystrokes 
could be captured only by priviledged programs.
Maybe this also could be done in userspace? I know nothing about how is 
the low-level keyboard access done on Linux. ;/

Whole vt management could probably as well run as root in userspace.

Probably EOT - I gave some ideas but I don't (yet) know enough to get 
down to the low-level implementation details...

-- 
Regards,
Jakub Piotr Cłapa