hi Daniel,

right, for non-root user the Campsite requires also created database for that user (in case non-root user has not database create permission)

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 7:27 AM, Daniel James <
campsite-dev@lists.sourcefabric.org> wrote:

>
>
> > right, for non-root user the Campsite requires also created database for
> > that user (in case non-root user has not database create permission)
>
> As the Campsite installer recommends not using the mysql root account
> for routinely connecting to the new database, I will adjust the
> documentation so that users already set up the database before
> attempting to run the installer.
>

That seems a bit cumbersome to me. I would give instructions for "the easy
way" and "the high security way". For some in the tech community, security
is placed at a premium, for others, ease of use is placed at a premium.

Or you could call it "setting up a test site" versus "setting up a
production site". ("If you are setting up your production site, you should
create a database now like this...")

- Paul

Hi Paul,

>> As the Campsite installer recommends not using the mysql root account
>> for routinely connecting to the new database, I will adjust the
>> documentation so that users already set up the database before
>> attempting to run the installer.
>
> That seems a bit cumbersome to me. I would give instructions for "the easy
> way" and "the high security way". For some in the tech community, security
> is placed at a premium, for others, ease of use is placed at a premium.

I think we should be aiming for both high security and ease of use.
Users follow the manual, so if we give them instructions for insecure
installation, there will be lots of insecure installations out there -
which will reflect badly on Sourcefabric if a simple exploit is published.

Like those Drupal sites with the files/ directory chmod 777 because the
user has only FTP access to the server, and can't log in to do a chown
www-data on that directory. You might as well put a banner up saying
'Free hosting for malware and illegal content.'

The way the Campsite installer is currently set up, if you enter any
database user name other than root (which is what the installer tells
you to do) and that user does not exist or is not set up with database
create permissions, the install will fail.

So users might as well get used to the idea of creating and granting
privileges to MySQL user accounts for specific databases, unless their
ISP has already set up a MySQL user for them. On cheaper hosting you
don't get MySQL root access anyway. You have to set up one of a limited
number of databases in some control panel.

For ultimate ease of use, users should be using the .deb package to
install, which should set up the database for them in a secure way.
Alessio recommends using dbconfig-common for this:

http://people.debian.org/~seanius/policy/dbconfig-common-usi ng.html/

> Or you could call it "setting up a test site" versus "setting up a
> production site". ("If you are setting up your production site, you should
> create a database now like this...")

That's poor practice, because the test site is likely be on a web-facing
server. Also, test sites have a tendency to become production sites if
they work OK. If people really can't be bothered to set up their server
in a secure way, they should use the demo servers instead of attempting
a DIY install.

Cheers!

Daniel