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blorf

Member

Registered: 2022-03-13

Posts: 2

Creating pseudo user to run script at startup

I'm not sure if this is even the way to go about fixing my "problem", so I'll start by explaining.
I've been using google-drive-ocamlfuse to access Google Drive from my laptop (I don't use a desktop environment or GUI file manager), and it works great except for one issue. My connection is a bit slow, so if I want to tab-complete or use find/fd, it's going to take ages. So, my solution was to mount the two Google Drives I need to access in /run/media.
The issue with this is that to mkdir there, I need privilege escalation, and I don't want to run that script manually every time I log in.
Now I'm sure I'm going about this the wrong way anyway, but it did get me thinking:
Is it possible to create a "pseudo-user" with its own home directory to use as a mount point, that I could then set up my regular user to have access to? Would that even be advisable?
Thanks very much!

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: Creating pseudo user to run script at startup

Just create a directory with the correct permissions and mount them somewhere other than /run (/mnt or in your ~ somewhere would be good options).
You have this issue only because /run is a tmpfs so gets recreated from scratch every time the system is rebooted.

Last edited by Slithery (2022-03-13 11:30:25)

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No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,285

Re: Creating pseudo user to run script at startup

And by which logic do you expect doing gymnastics here would in any way improve the performance of your connection/the FUSE mount point? Do you want them outside of your $HOME so that recursive lookups in your $HOME don't get delayed accidentally? If performance of the drive mount point itself are your concern then it matters absolutely nothing at all where you mount it, it will still be slow anyway.

Last edited by V1del (2022-03-13 17:42:29)

blorf

Member

Registered: 2022-03-13

Posts: 2

Re: Creating pseudo user to run script at startup

Just create a directory with the correct permissions and mount them somewhere other than /run (/mnt or in your ~ somewhere would be good options).
You have this issue only because /run is a tmpfs so gets recreated from scratch every time the system is rebooted.

Thanks for this! I should have known about the tmpfs, when I looked at /mnt I found directories I'd create ages ago for drives I've since taken out of the computer. I must have looked into this before, no clue why I didn't get it right then. Appreciate your help!

And by which logic do you expect doing gymnastics here would in any way improve the performance of your connection/the FUSE mount point? Do you want them outside of your $HOME so that recursive lookups in your $HOME don't get delayed accidentally? If performance of the drive mount point itself are your concern then it matters absolutely nothing at all where you mount it, it will still be slow anyway.

Performance of the drive mount point is not a concern, the recursive lookups were what I was worried about. As a matter of fact, the source of my "problem" is less interesting to me than the train of thought that came from it—I'm still interested in the concept of "pseudo users" and how access to different user's home directories works (if at all), so I want to learn more about that.
Thanks for your help guys!

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,970

Re: Creating pseudo user to run script at startup

I'm still interested in the concept of "pseudo users" and how access to different user's home directories works (if at all), so I want to learn more about that.

A user's home directory has no special treatment with respect to access permissions.