Software Distributor Administration Guide for HP-UX 11i

Nonprivileged SD
Overview
Chapter 12414
Overview
The nonprivileged mode of SD-UX lets users access application software
based on their file system permissions rather than super-user privilege
implemented by SD-UX ACLs. Nonprivileged mode is honored by almost
all SD commands. You can use nonprivileged mode for all aspects of
developing, distributing, and managing applications.
Who Can Benefit?
Nonprivileged SD-UX is primarily intended for administrators of large
data centers who must manage in-house applications without using
super-user privilege. You might not benefit from this feature if you are a
casual user wanting to manage your own applications—unless you are
experienced enough at packaging software to take advantage of
nonprivileged mode.
How Does It Work?
In nonprivileged mode, most SD-UX operations are done according to the
invoking user’s uid, gid, and umask. In this mode, logfiles and the
installed software catalog usually found in /var/adm/sw are stored by
default in user-specific admin directories at /var/home/USER_NAME/sw
(in which USER_NAME is the user’s log-in name). Location of the user’s
admin directory and installed software catalog can be customized using
default options.
While you are using nonprivileged mode, you can also package and copy
applications that won’t be used for nonprivileged mode. However, you
must use the normal mode of SD-UX (that is with run_as_superuser set
to true and permissions granted by ACLs) to install such applications.
When packaging, file system access on the install target must be
considered. See “Packaging Software for Use in Nonprivileged Mode” on
page 416.