Baslinux mailing list

["David Moberg" <davidjmoberg AT gmail.com>]

sindi keesan wrote:
> I need the following to be 'user'-usable:
>
> To use X:
> Xvesa

Set it so that user 0/root owns it, then set the suid bit and allow it
to be executed by user. It writes directly to the hardware.

> rxvt

sh and rxvt need to be executable by user.

> To use X programs:
> Abiword
> Opera
> xli

All X programs need to read/write their data files. All X programs
also need to connect to the X server. Start Xvesa with the -ac option,
as Lee suggested, if there is a permission problem. You may also need
to change the DISPLAY env variable from =":0" to ="IP:0", where IP is
the localhost (127.0.0.1 or your `hostname`).  Opera probably wants to
write to several different locations. Try it and see.

> Other programs:
> zgv (to view photos)

Requires suid (root permissions), as all svgalib programs do. Also
needs to read the photos.

> pdftopbm

Only needs to be executable and have access to the PDF.

> To print:
> gs (and some way to shrink gs to a minimum with just Times New Roman and
> no Chinese fonts - this will be a big project.  Start with just gs and see
> what it complains about?).

Ditto.

> lpr already works for 'user' but not 'root'

You could send the data directly to the printer (as wp and the netpbm
scripts do now). That would eliminate the need for a user account due
to lpr's permission problem. An lpr script could accept a postscript
file on stdin and use ghostscript to filter it, then send it to the
printer.

> The user would be instructed to type user and then Enter instead of
> pressing Enter.  In rc.d?

Just edit /etc/issue.

David