Installing

make install

Some of the root plugins (check_dhcp and check_icmp) haven't been installed. What's happening?

There are a few plugins which require root access. These are compiled under the plugins-root subdirectory. A make install will install it with the install user's owner and group permissions. However, if you run make install without root, this message will appear:
WARNING: insufficient access; not installing setuid plugins NOTE: to install setuid plugins, run 'make install-root' as root"

To install, run as root:
make install-root

Even if you are not root, the plugins will still be installed. This is for packagers which can then alter the permissions of the plugins before packaging.

This behaviour is used by coreutils for the su binary and is duplicated for this project.

Why aren't my plugins installed as the nagios user? And what about root plugins?

If you run ./configure with --with-user=nagios, then at make install time, the installation will set the ownership of the plugins to the nagios user (similarly for --with-group). If these options are not set, the plugins will be installed with the install user's owner and group permissions - it is your responsibility to set other permissions, if required.

The only exception are root plugins. These are under plugins-root/ and are also installed with the install user's owner and group permissions.

If you run:
make install-root

This will set permissions to root, assuming you are either root or using fakeroot. If not, the setuid is still set, but the plugin may not work correctly. This is the behaviour used by coreutils for the su binary and is duplicated in this project.