Starting VLC as Root

[johndoe32102002]

I am trying to start VLC as root. I am finding it impossible to do so. Is there a flag to allow root, such as:
vlc --as-root

vlc --as-root
VLC is not supposed to be run as root. Sorry.
If you need to use real-time priorities and/or privileged TCP ports
you can use vlc-wrapper (make sure it is Set-UID root and
cannot be run by non-trusted users first).

As a temporary workaround, I am using totem. I want to use VLC as root, no workarounds to that, Sorry.

Thank you.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

sudo vlc-wrapper

[johndoe32102002]

sudo vlc-wrapper
Cannot determine unprivileged user for VLC!

Can you specify how to modify vlc-wrapper to run VLC as root or specify another method to run VLC as root?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

It automatically uses the user that invoked sudo (which cannot be root itself)

[magik]

hello

i use :

su - YOURUSER_NOT_ROOT -c 'vlc'

[johndoe32102002]

I have and want no other users on the system except for root. Isn't there a flag I can enable to allow root?

[Sébastien Escudier]

no you can't and this is discouraged.

If you still want to do that you would need to recompile vlc.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Sure, there is compilation flag for user-less Linux installation (--enable-run-as-root if I recall correctly).

[johndoe32102002]

For future reference, that flag seemed to configure, also found in the ./configure --help:
./configure --enable-run-as-root && make && make install

VLC Developers, Thank You for adding that flag!

[navneet_6]

I did the following and VLC is now running in root mode.
I downloaded the latest version (2.0.1), copied to /Applications.
Opened the following file in a hex editor: /Applications/VLC/Contents/MacOS/VLC (for this right click VLC app and "Show Package Contents").
Searched for the string "geteuid" (without the quotes).
It was found at two places, changed it to "getppid" (without the quotes) at both the places.
Saved the file and VLC now runs perfectly when logged in as root on my Mac.

Wishes,
Navneet

[misoxxx]

If someone can't use hexedit, there is a C patch for vlc 1.0.6. After patch you can run it as root. Just compile, move to folder with vlc and run. Works on my Ubuntu 10.04. Hope I helped!

Code: Select all

#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> int main(void) { char new[] ="getppid"; FILE * fp = fopen("vlc", "rb+"); if(fp == NULL) { fprintf(stderr,"Cant open file vlc.(It must be named vlc.)\n"); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } fseek(fp,1571,SEEK_SET); fwrite(new,1,7,fp); fclose(fp); return 0; }

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There is a configure-time option to run it as root, IIRC.

[bhumish]

Exactly! Change the 'geteuid' to 'getppid' in the vlc file, location: /bin/usr/vlc and you can open vlc as root.