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8 <sect1 id="ch-tools-changingowner">
9 <?dbhtml filename="changingowner.html"?>
11 <title>Changing Ownership</title>
14 <para>The commands in the remainder of this book must be performed while
15 logged in as user <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> and no
16 longer as user <systemitem class="username">lfs</systemitem>. Also, double
17 check that <envar>$LFS</envar> is set in <systemitem
18 class="username">root</systemitem>'s environment.</para>
21 <para>Currently, the <filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> directory
22 is owned by the user <systemitem class="username">lfs</systemitem>, a user
23 that exists only on the host system. If the <filename
24 class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> directory is kept as is, the files are
25 owned by a user ID without a corresponding account. This is dangerous because
26 a user account created later could get this same user ID and would own the
27 <filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> directory and all the files
28 therein, thus exposing these files to possible malicious manipulation.</para>
30 <para>To avoid this issue, you could add the <systemitem
31 class="username">lfs</systemitem> user to the new LFS system later when
32 creating the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> file, taking care to assign it
33 the same user and group IDs as on the host system. Better yet, change the
34 ownership of the <filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> directory to
35 user <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> by running the following
38 <screen><userinput>chown -R root:root $LFS/tools</userinput></screen>
40 <para>Although the <filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> directory
41 can be deleted once the LFS system has been finished, it can be retained to build
42 additional LFS systems <emphasis>of the same book version</emphasis>. How best
43 to backup <filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> is a matter of
44 personal preference.</para>
47 <para>If you intend to keep the temporary tools for use in building future LFS
48 systems, <emphasis>now</emphasis> is the time to back them up. Subsequent
49 commands in chapter 6 will alter the tools currently in place, rendering them
50 useless for future builds.</para>