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RE: [GOLDSTAR] Re: [PATCH] setup: allow running as non-admin
- From: "Buchbinder, Barry (NIH/NIAID) [E]" <BBuchbinder at niaid dot nih dot gov>
- To: "cygwin-apps at cygwin dot com" <cygwin-apps at cygwin dot com>
- Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2013 16:43:30 +0000
- Subject: RE: [GOLDSTAR] Re: [PATCH] setup: allow running as non-admin
- Authentication-results: sourceware.org; auth=none
- References: <527AD620 dot 2020902 at shaddybaddah dot name> <20131107002345 dot GB2334 at ednor dot casa dot cgf dot cx> <527AE157 dot 4080107 at shaddybaddah dot name> <20131107131521 dot GA5722 at calimero dot vinschen dot de> <20131107152342 dot GA3974 at ednor dot casa dot cgf dot cx> <527D7C12 dot 6090204 at shaddybaddah dot name> <20131109004042 dot GA5742 at ednor dot casa dot cgf dot cx> <20131109102001 dot GI16306 at calimero dot vinschen dot de>
Corinna Vinschen sent the following at Saturday, November 09, 2013 5:20 AM
>Maybe I'm dense but I don't quite understand it. Under 32 bit, a tool
>called "setup-foo" will be recognized as an installer binary. Therefore
>the "helpful" UAC installer recognition will try to start setup-x86 as
>an installer with admin permissions, asking for consent (default for
>admin accounts) or admin credentials (default for non-admin accounts).
>
>How was it possible at all to start 32 bit setup as normal user, without
>getting the elevation prompt?
>
>Or, hmm...
>
>[do you hear me thinking?]
>
>...does the UAC installer recognition only kick in for an UAC crippled
>admin account but not for a normal user account?
>
>[...testing...]
>
>I just started an older setup-x86 on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 using
>a non-admin user account, and in both cases I have been asked for
>administrator credentials.
>
>Which means, I still don't understand how anybody ran setup from
>http://cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe as a normal user account without being
>asked for admin creds.
>
>Unless the admins of these machines have switched off the installer
>recognition. In that case non-admins could simply start setup-x86 from
>the net and now they can't anymore. Do we still want to support this?
If support is dropped, the Cygwin home page should explain what
non-admins need to do to install 32 bit Cygwin.
The solution on this list has long been "download and rename to
foo.exe". That could be done for all by renaming
http://cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe to http://cygwin.com/getcygwin32.exe.
I've often wondered whether there is a reason why this hasn't been
done before. If there is, I'd be interested in learning why, for
my education. Is there a benefit to having an installer name that
includes "setup" or "install"? (If there is, I'll drop the topic.)
This is a suggestion, not a request. This doesn't affect me because I
almost never run setup from the browser. I run it off my hard disk,
downloading updates when they are released.
Thanks,
- Barry
Disclaimer: Statements made herein are not made on behalf of NIAID.