[rdiff-backup-users] Re: Can one set up a login for rdiff-backup only (not via sshd_config)?

[Chris G]

On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 01:34:39PM +0000, Chris G wrote:
> Is it possible to set up a dedicated login for rdiff-backup to use
> without using sshd_config?
> 
> I have a NAS backup system which runs linux but has an ancient version
> of ssh on it which I don't want to play about with.  So I'd prefer to
> create a dedicated login (a user called 'bak') which *only* allows
> rdiff-backup to run.
> 
> Is there any way I can do this? I guess rdiff-backup needs a shell to
> run in so I can't just set the shell field in /etc/passwd to
> "rdiff-backup --server".  Would I get away with a .profile for the
> user that runs "rdiff-backup --server" or something like that with a
> --remote-schema set to nothing?
> 
I worked out how to do it after quite a bit of mucking about and
experimentation, it needs a little shell script to run rdiff-backup as
(at least on the system I was using) you can't add parameters to the
'shell' entry in /etc/passwd.

Thus I ended up with an entry in /etc/passwd as follows:-

    bak:x:505:1000:Backup Login,,,:/bak:/opt/bin/rdb

...and /opt/bin/rdb is simply:-

    #!/bin/sh
    /opt/bin/rdiff-backup --server


-- 
Chris Green