Linux_Firefox vs Tor Browser installed in root directories

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phkhgh
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Joined: January 25th, 2007, 2:49 pm
Location: So. U.S.A.

Linux_Firefox vs Tor Browser installed in root directories

Post by phkhgh »

What determines whether any Linux app - installed to a root owned directory (e.g., /opt) actually runs under a standard user account, when it's launched?

Every app I've had to (or did) install to /opt - including Mozilla version of Firefox, or some packages install themselves to /usr/local, all show the main process is running under my user account when launched (as expected). But if you look at permissions of the executable files in /opt, they all show as root owned. But they don't RUN in root mode.

Except Tor Browser. It warns, "Don't extract or run TBB in root mode." Fine - but no explanation for the different behavior vs. every other app installed / extracted to a root directory. No reason given - even for questions directly to Tor Project.

It's obvious from the "start Tor Browser" file, they've coded it to give a warning about don't run it as root, then exiting.
You can get around that if you really want, by modifying the "start-tor-browser" script, but that's not my question.

Why do Tor Project devs choose not to make it behave like every other app, where even though apps are installed in root owned directories & every file shows root owned, but after they're launched, the running process runs under a standard user account?

Tor Browser is the only one I've seen that doesn't behave like every other app.
I'm assuming that Linux thinks it's a good idea to install most apps in root owned directories, where they're protected by password & other safeguards, or else they'd have changed that practice long ago.

Other than when Linux TBB isn't installed from a deb file (Debian based distros), there's a problem automatically updating it, what security is gained by installing it to much less secure user home directory? Surely, they could host their own repository & keep it as safe as their download server is now.

The flip side would be, if Tor Project figured out a much safer way to run browsers, why haven't any others followed?
I'm guessing it's because there is no increased security by installing to the Linux user's home directory.
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