[HECnet] PyDECnet File Transfer Support?

[Keith Halewood]

Pydecnet runs as a non-privileged user here, mainly because it connects to Ethernet via tap devices whose interface ends are ‘owned’ by that non-privileged user. The non-Ethernet circuits are over TCp or UDP ports not restricted to root-only.

K

> On 22 Dec 2021, at 21:46, Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On Dec 22, 2021, at 1:40 PM, Robert Armstrong <bob at jfcl.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Please give us (pyDECnet users) a way to disable it - pyDECnet runs as
>> root and I'm not really comfortable having it become a program that can
>> remotely read or write files on my system.
> 
> Agreed! It seems like something that should be an optionally-enabled feature, and something that can't serve anything outside of a specified directory tree (security bugs notwithstanding). Write-only and read-only directories would be helpful, though that may come for free just by using host filesystem permissions.
> 
> Hmm, I do have pyDECnet running as root here at home. I'll look into changing that. ISTR that I set it up to run under a non-root account at work, but it'll be 2022 before I can easily verify that.
> 
> -- 
> Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
> https://www.nf6x.net/
>