Why run as special user?

[Takla]

I'm curious as to why it's recommended to run transmission, or specifically transmission-daemon, under a specially created user? I appreciate that running it as root is foolish but what is the specific reasoning behind recommending not running as regular unprivileged user? I'm really struggling to see what the problem or advantage could be.

Thanks.

[Takla]

Nobody knows?

[Jethryn Freyman]

I haven't heard this recommended, but I haven't read the documentation either. Which OS are you using?

[godsyn]

Running any daemon, much less one that is in development, with more permissions than necessary, is poor form. Apache is ran as apache (or httpd, pending disrto), same with mysql, mail, syslog, sshd, etc. etc. This is just another daemon, and as such, should be ran with minimal permissions. It isn't saying "our application isn't secure", but, "we can not see every possible result, so do yourself a favor and make it more complicated should someone obtain access".

It is just an ounce of prevention.