Software Distributor Administration Guide HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3 (5900-2488, September 2012)

12.2.3 How Nonprivileged Mode Changes SD-UX Behavior
When the run_as_superuser option is set to the default value of true, SD-UX operations are
performed normally, with permissions for operations either granted to a local super-user or set by
SD ACLs. (See Chapter 9: “SD-UX Security ” (page 145) for details on ACLs.)
When run_as_superuser is set to false and the invoking user is local and is not super-user,
nonprivileged mode is invoked:
• Permissions for operations are based on the user’s file system permissions.
• SD ACLs are ignored.
• Files created by SD have the uid and gid of the invoking user, and the mode of created files
is set according to the invoking user’s umask.
12.3 Default Configuration
The default configuration of nonprivileged mode is to have a central location for user-installed
software catalogs.
When the run_as_superuser option is false and the admin_directory option is not set,
SD-UX logfiles and installed software catalogs are stored in user-specific directories at /var/home/
USER_NAME/sw (where USER_NAME is replaced by the invoking user name).
Putting logfiles and installed software catalog in a central location avoids problems when users
install software on the system outside of their home directories and user home directories are NFS
mounted across many systems.
You can enable nonprivileged mode for all users by setting the run_as_superuser option to
false in /var/adm/sw/defaults.
Individual users can override the default chosen by the system administrator, by setting the
run_as_superuser option to true or false in their $HOME/.swdefaults file or on the command
line.
12.4 Alternative Configuration
An alternative configuration of nonprivileged mode sets up user-installed software catalogs in each
user’s home directory. You can use the admin_directory option in /var/adm/sw/defaults
to indicate a path beginning with HOME or /HOME, so that the default administration directory used
by SD-UX during nonprivileged mode is in each user’s home directory. (A value of HOME/.sw
works well for this purpose.)
Individual users can override this in their $HOME/.swdefaults file or on the command line.
12.4.1 Setting the Admin Directory Option
This option lets you specify the location for logfiles and the default parent directory for the installed
software catalog. Values are as follows:
admin_directory=/var/adm/sw (for normal mode)
admin_directory=/var/home/LOGNAME/sw (for nonprivileged mode)
12.3 Default Configuration 233