Packaging/Users And Groups

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Contents 1 Users and groups 1.1 Specfile snipplets 1.2 Creating group during package install = 1.2.1 Creating user during package install 2 List of already used users and groups

Users and groups

Creating users and groups during package install is one of the major parts for packages containing daemons. If you package contains a daemon, consider creating a special user/group running this daemon to improve security.

Specfile snipplets

Creating group during package install =

Requires(Pre): pwdutils
%define        daemon_group bar
...
%pre
# create daemon group, if not existing
if
    getent group %{daemon_group} >/dev/null
then
    : OK group %{daemon_group} already present
else
    groupadd -r %{daemon_group}  2>/dev/null || :
fi

Creating user during package install

Please note that this example uses a special group that was created before via the snipplet above.

Users should get a home directory with at least read access. Sometimes it makes also sense to use a directory that is writable by the daemon user. This makes debugging easier (think about a "su - $daemon_user").

Requires(Pre): pwdutils
%define        daemon_user foo
...
%pre
# create daemon user, if not existing
if
    getent passwd %{daemon_user} >/dev/null
then
    : OK user %{daemon_user} already present
else
    useradd  -r -o -g %{daemon_group} -s /bin/false -c "FOO daemon" -d %{_var}/lib/%{name} %{daemon_user} 2> /dev/null || :
fi

List of already used users and groups

A list of currently allowed users and groups in openSUSE Factory can be found inside the "config" file of the package rpmlint.