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Linux
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Linux

by Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc, Michael Kofler
June 2025
Beginner to intermediate
1180 pages
37h 48m
English
Packt Publishing
Content preview from Linux

10.4    Running Processes under a Different Identity (PolicyKit)

The basic idea of PolicyKit is to split programs into two components: One part contains the user interface and runs with ordinary user rights. The second part of the program, referred to as the mechanism in PolicyKit terminology, is responsible for system interventions and runs with root privileges.

This separation has the fundamental advantage that it is no longer necessary to run a huge program with root privileges, but only small parts of it. This reduces potential security risks. In addition, it is theoretically possible for different user interfaces (such as a GNOME program and a KDE program) to use a unified set of mechanisms.

The communication between the two components ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781806108176