> > True, but nowadays PC are just that: Personal Computers, and if a > > hacker/trojan/virus breaks in, the only important thing on the disk is > > the (only) user's data. He won't care about the system 'cause he can > > reinstall it from scratch if need be. And no, 99% of them won't have > > fresh backups handy. > > To these users, root/user separation is just a bandaid to not hose the > > system by accident, nothing more. > > > > Xav > > That's a bit of a narrow slant on things: you're ignoring universities, > businesses and managed systems all over the place. The ability of users > to change most settings/install random software/infect the machine with > viruses is the bane of university systems-administrators everywhere. > The fact that a system needs to be rebuilt from scratch whenever a user > does something stupid causes more work for IT departments everywhere > than is healthy.
On this vein, I (root process) make (automated) online multi-generation backups of my critical files. They are backed up to a second hard drive on the same machine. If I accidently blow away my personal stuff, there is a root-owned read only (to me) copy available. That kind of protection is NOT AVAILABLE if you are running as root all the time. Of course I also have the luxury of having a DLT auto-changer hanging off my home server that all my home machines get backed up with. On the flip side, I have friends that never ever backup their files, run as administrator or root (despite warnings to the contrary) and always seem to be reloading their machines, fighting spy-ware, viruses, etc. Just how many lessons do you need before you learn? My time is valuable too. Why should I waste it restoring my system from scratch all the time? It's SO much faster and easier just restoring personal files and settings than the whole machine. I wouldn't DARE run as root all the time, and there just is NOT a valid reason to ever login as root on a regular basis other than sheer laziness or incompetence. This entire thread is full of a bunch of crap about baseless DESIRE but there has yet to be any real concrete reasons as to the NEED for GDM level root login. The answer is obvious - there ARE no reasons. They don't exist. All that exists is a juvenile urge to buck the system and rebel against what everyone in the industry knows by education or experience to be "the right thing."
