[Live-demo] Alternative OSGeoLive build process

[Alex Mandel]

On 06/02/2012 11:58 AM, Micha Silver wrote:
> On 02/06/2012 20:40, Alex Mandel wrote:
>> I just remembered, I know the answer.
>> Everything that would go on the desktop or is a customization to the
>> user goes in the /etc/skel/ folder. This folder is the template whenever
>> a new user home directory is created.
> 
> Don't we still need a user 'user' created in advance in order to properly 
> initialize and add permissions to PostGIS?  The Ushahidi install script requires 
> 'user'  for its MySQL database. And a PgAdmin3 profile is setup to automatically 
> connect to the PostGIS database for 'user'.
> ?
> 

Yes and no, postgis just needs the default postgres user in order to be
loaded with data. With Ident on (default) then yes an account in
postgres needs to be set as superuser to make life easy later. There are
2 options, that can be set in the db when building or it can be a
triggered event on boot of the live disc when the user is created on the
fly.

Does MySQL require that an account on the machine be called user or that
MySQL has an internal user called user. I think it's the latter. Yes the
current scripts may be written to take advantage of knowing the system
username but I don't think it's a requirement.

There is nothing that prevents us from having an account called "user"
at time of build if needed. This just won't necessarily be the same
account when the disc is live booted because the disc creates a new user
on the fly every boot. The biggest side effect is that the home
directory doesn't exist until boot at which point a user is created and
the /etc/skel is used to populate the home dir defaults (this means we
can seed a firefox profile with the homepage set, etc.). I believe
scripts can also be run at time of user creation if we need to set the
superuser in postgis at that point.

Keep in mind the method we are discussing is the method that all of the
major Debian and Ubuntu variants use to make their live discs.

Thanks,
Alex