> > On Wed, 16 Sep 1998, E.L. Meijer (Eric) wrote: > > > Hi everyone, > > > > I administer a number of machines which have the same superuser > > password. Some of them are PC's running debian. Some of the PC users > > are quite able to administer their own machines. So I added extra root > > accounts. In /etc/passwd this looks like > > > > root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash > > superdanny:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash > > > > The problem is the following: some day Danny wants to change his > > `superdanny' passwd and he types: > > > > $ su superdanny > > Password:<his passwd> > > # passwd > > > > Then two things happen that I don't like: > > 1) He isn't asked for the old password, > > 2) the password of root is changed, not that of superdanny > > > > Now I wonder: once logged in as `superdanny', is there a way for the > > system to know that, despite uid being 0, this is superdanny, and not > > root; and if there is a way, would the two points above classify as bugs? > > > > I dont know about anyone else, but in my mind, two users with the same UID > is a Bad Thing (tm). As for the different username... `echo $USER` or > `whoami` dont know if either would work.. but anyway..
Usually yes. This is the only situation in which I use it. Different people can gain root access with their own passwd while a general root passwd still exists. Maybe I should look into a setup using sudo or something similar. Eric -- E.L. Meijer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | tel. office +31 40 2472189 Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032 Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
