Open low tcp port from ROS node

asked 2013-10-23 17:47:51 -0500

dpkoch
132 ●8 ●10 ●14

updated 2014-01-28 17:18:20 -0500

ngrennan
1 ●1 ●1

I'm currently writing a node that uses a 3rd party library. This library listens for multi-cast data streaming on port 1001. The problem I'm running into is that it requires root privileges to bind to this port (or any port <= 1023).

There isn't anything I can do to change the port number that I'm aware of, and (a) I don't want to have to run the node as root, especially since this node is likely gong to be distributed, and (b) as far as I can tell running the node as root isn't possible even if I wanted too.

Does anybody know what I might be able to do to listen to port 1001 from within my node?

answered 2013-10-23 20:25:03 -0500

Thomas

4478 ●39 ●58 ●84 http://thomas.moulard.net/

updated 2013-10-24 15:29:57 -0500

Port under 1024 cannot be open by non-root user on Linux by design. You can play with the uid/gid permissions to allow the node to run with root capabilities while being able to be launched by anyone but this does not solve the safety issue.

I don't know your library but it is unlikely that it binds a low port number without allowing you to change the port number. And if it really is the case, I guess you should send a bug report to them.

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The library I'm using is an SDK that has the port number hard-coded (it streams data from software on a remote computer that also has the port hard-coded). I'll work with the SKD developers on finding a more permanent solution, but I was at least able to test my node using the setuid flag. Thanks!