"Chad N. Tindel" <chad@tindel.net> writes:
>> If someone roots your box, it's not our fault. Simple as that.
> I didn't say "require them to run as a non-root user". I said "Give them
> the choice to decide what is correct for their environment". In the case
> of apache, there are many internal webservers that are not exposed to the
> threat of the public internet; for such servers, it may be appropriate to run
> apache as root because it simplifies the administration and automation of
> tasks. But to do so, one has to know how to re-compile apache, which will
> exclude a lot of your basic garden variety administrators. Its very
> un-friendly programming.
If they don't know how to recompile apache, what are the odds that they
are truly competent to decide that they can safely run it as root?
Semi-competent people administering servers are the Achilles heel of the
internet already. We are doing them a favor, not creating a problem,
by preventing them from adopting insecure practices.
regards, tom lane