Creating a package such that its postinstall script runs as a non-root user

Question

The pkgmap(4) man page I have (says "Last change: 30 Apr 1999"; from SUNWman 42.6,REV=6.1) says of the owner and group fields in a pkgmap entry line:
"This field is not used for linked files or non-installable files. It is used optionally with a package information file. If used, it indicates with what [owner/group] an installation script will be executed."
The pkgmap file I get after running pkgmk on my prototype file contains a line like
    1 i postinstall 292 23672 1166416139for the postinstall script. The man page quote above suggests that if I want the script to be run with user and group fred/staff (say), I can hand-edit this line to instead be
    1 i postinstall fred staff 292 23672 1166416139However, pkgadd doesn't like this, complaining and failing thus:
    pkgadd: ERROR: bad entry read in pkgmap
        pathname=postinstall
        problem=extra tokens on input line
    pkgadd: ERROR: unable to process pkgmapFurthermore, there doesn't seem to be anything I can put in my prototype file to get these fields into the generated pkgmap. The corresponding owner/group fields are syntax errors for a package information file in a prototype file.
All this, and the wording in the Application Packaging Developer's Guide, suggest that the pkgmap man page is wrong and there isn't a way to specify a non-root user and group as which you want your package's install scripts to run.
On the other hand, the pkgadd confirmation "This package contains scripts which will be executed with super-user permission during the process of installing this package. / Do you want to continue with the installation of <PCBBserv> [y,n,?]" suggests that there might be some way to make a package such that it contains scripts which will be executed with ordinary user permissions, and thus not warrant a confirmation.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
John

Answer 1

tpolich wrote:One more quick question, is rc.local run the backround or say if I asked for input would the system boot hang?
Yes, rc.local itself would hang, but if you background the process inside rc.local using the '&' symbol at the end of the command, then that command will be backgrounded and rc.local can continue.