> When /bin/mount is setuid root, everybody can mount the floppy drive. When > someone tries to mount something that is not in /etc/fstab, I get this > error: > > mount: only root can do that > > I didn't expect it because mount is setuid root, but this is okay to me.
I do expect that. Mount checks for a line in /etc/fstab and for "user" in that line, and if both are not found, it issues an error message and refuses to mount. What's wrong with that? See section (iii) of man mount. Just because a program runs setuid root, it doesn't mean the author will let you do anything. Probably just the opposite, in fact. > > However, when mount is not setuid root, only root can mount filesystems. > Any user, whether a member of the floppy group or not, gets this: > > $ mount /floppy > mount: must be superuser to use mount > $ > > Note that the error is a different one. But it is still an error. Only superuser can mount filesystems (see (iii) again). So that error message is correct. Either you must be superuser, or you must be running a program with root privilege. > The relevant entry in /etc/fstab reads: > > /dev/fd0 /floppy msdos defaults,noauto,user,umask=077 0 0 > > All the /dev/fd0* devices have these permissions: > > brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 0 Jan 9 15:05 /dev/fd0 > > Does anybody know what's going wrong on my computer? I think it worked > once for me, but I am not sure how I did it then and how long ago it was. Doesn't look like anything is wrong. Cheers. -- David Wright, Open University, Earth Science Department, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA U.K. email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: +44 1908 653 739 fax: +44 1908 655 151 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
