[tex-live] Recommended way to call tlmgr when TeX Live installed with root permissions

[Norbert Preining]

Hi,

On Fri, 29 Aug 2014, Scott Kostyshak wrote:
> Suppose that TeX Live is installed to /opt/texbin and requires root
> permissions to call tlmgr to update the installation. What are the
> recommended ways to call tlmgr? I see two approaches:
> 
> 1. call it directly: sudo /opt/texbin/tlmgr (or create an alias)
> 2. add /opt/texbin to root's PATH.
> 
> (2) seems to be the most convenient option but I imagine it's not a
> good idea from a security perspective. If this is true, could someone
> outline a case where this would lead to a security vulnerability?

Both are fine. Why should adding /opt/texbin increase the
security vulnerability?

If someone is already root, he can call /opt/texbin/whatever
without having it in the path.

Norbert

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PREINING, Norbert                               http://www.preining.info
JAIST, Japan                                 TeX Live & Debian Developer
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