Arch Linux

SyXbiT

Member

From: Seattle, WA

Registered: 2008-06-28

Posts: 177

Website

is there a page with more info about unix groups? wiki is vague

as a recent arch convert, i've really been guessing about which groups to join. (based on limited available information)
but, randomly, in different (arch) wiki's and forum posts, they seem contradict each other.
some say being in the disk group is dangerous.
some say to be a member of the dbus group, others say not to
it's all very confusing.
I'd love to help to improve the arch documentation on this really weak area, but i'm still new to this.
any ideas?

wiki page is here:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Groups

Last edited by SyXbiT (2008-07-13 15:19:40)

sph

Member

Registered: 2008-05-01

Posts: 63

Website

Re: is there a page with more info about unix groups? wiki is vague

When adding software via pacman, you will get a short postinstall message, which indicates that it is recommended to add users to a certain group.

E.g. when installing 'sane' this message will appear:

Add your user to group 'scanner' to use scanner devices.

For example, I am member of the following additional groups:

lp video audio optical storage scanner camera users

SyXbiT

Member

From: Seattle, WA

Registered: 2008-06-28

Posts: 177

Website

Re: is there a page with more info about unix groups? wiki is vague

but my point is that that list is not sufficient.
you should add 'power' if you want to suspend, hibernate
i believe you should add networkmanager if you want to use that

my point is there needs to be a more comprehensive list that states exactly why you might want to be a member of each group. (right now, 'networkmanager' is only mentioned in the 'networkmanager' package etc..