Checkbox

Why does checkbox need root access?

Asked by DavidBriscoe

I'd assume that checkbox isn't modifying anything, so what does checkbox read that is only readable by root?

(And is it possible for checkbox to not ask for root at all?)

Thanks!

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Jeff Lane 
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Best Jeff Lane  (bladernr) said : 		#1

The short answer is: "because..."

The truth is that it just needs that access to perform certain tasks. Nothing destructive, but it does need root access to read some of the log data, IIRC, but more importantly, some of the tests require root access to run.

A couple of immediate examples are the sleep tests (requires root to automate entering suspend/hibernate states, as well as setting the wake alarm to automagically resume if your BIOS/ACPI supports that) and the user apps tests (which include a "Update Manager" test). There's also a test for kernel mode setting that needs root, and the disk tests as well.

If you want to see what tests specifically need root access, look in /usr/share/checkbox/jobs and grep for the word "root" and you'll see which files have tests that need root access.

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DavidBriscoe (idbrii) said : 		#2

Thanks Jeff Lane, that solved my question.