On Tuesday 23 October 2001 11:32, Justin Bengtson wrote: > is there any way to remove all the user accounts (including root) and > simply run the system as a single user? can i do away with the whole > login thing?
Although I wouldn't recommend it you could eliminate all user accounts except root and always login as root. No, please forget I said that. Mandrake has an install option that lets you create a default user that doesn't (appear to) have to log on. I don't know anyone who has tried using that option though. > i can understand clearly the need for different logins in a work > situation. what i don't understand is the need for at least two > logins for my home system. i am the user, administrator and ultimate > arbitrator of what goes on in my computer. why do i need all of > these accounts? i really hate having to type "su" followed by a > password to perform what is, to me, a basic action. security is not > an issue to me. i have a decent firewall and i back-up regularly. > about the only thing someone could "steal" from my computer is the > 1200-odd mp3's i have... > > i think this is the basis for my whole outlook on linux. am i stuck > using M$ products and pining for my old DOS days? or is there a way > to make linux less of a pain in the ass? Again, I really encourage you to run as root as little as possible. It is really easy wipe yourself out. You might want to look at the sudo package: "Sudo is a program designed to allow a sysadmin to give limited root privileges to users and log root activity. The basic philosophy is to give as few privileges as possible but still allow people to get their work done." So if your main hassle is, say, not being able to "apt-get" w/o su'ing to root, you could use sudo to let you run apt-get from your regular account. Then there's always the "quick fix" of doing a "suid root" on apt-get... There are also X wrappers/scripts around that let you log in as root before a GUI utility is run. > if it makes any difference, i use debian. Well it shows you're both brave and know how to minimize your day to day Linux maintenance worries.
