On Saturday 30 June 2001 18:43, Judith Miner wrote:
> >> Since there is so many risks of constantly using a root account,
> >> how
>
> in the world are you supposed to get work done without being logged
> in as root?? <<
>
> I am a new user and am looking for a desktop alternative to
> Windows. I have no interest in consoles, command lines, writing
> scripts, compiling kernels, etc. I just want a solid system
> supporting a complete, useful, and reasonably intuitive GUI that
> lets me do what I need to do and want to do.
>
> I am the sole user of my home/home office computer. My husband on
> rare occasions might write an e-mail on the Windows side of the
> computer, but he would have to be hog-tied to get him into the
> Mandrake 8 side.
>
> After getting mightily annoyed at having to run "su" in a console
> or run Super User file managers or give my root password time after
> time in order to run Mandrake Control Center or other root-only
> utilities, I now log in all the time as root. Before the geekoids
> on the list warn me of my impending eternal damnation,<g> let me
> explain my reasoning:
>
> I am the sole user. I am thus both root and judy (the only user).
> If I want to do something that will affect the all-important system
> files, I'm going to do it whether I'm logged in as user or root. So
> working as user does nothing but make me jump through more hoops to
> do what I'm going to do anyway. Why not avoid the hassle and work
> as root all the time? One password per session and no consoles for
> "su"-ing, I can unmount my Zip disks at will, I can deal with all
> files in all file managers, I can edit what I need to, I can
> install programs without problems.
>
> See, these "security features" can't stay the way they are if Linux
> is to attract even the Mac's share of the desktop market. Home
> business and consumer users will react the way I did
> and just get fed up and abandon Linux if they have to go through
> these endless permissions, logins, and passwords to manage their
> systems. In a home system, you're constantly installing or
> upgrading software or making changes to your display or your
> hardware. Any consumer GUI has to accommodate such usage, which is
> nothing at all like what a larger network requires.
>
> It seems to me that something could be incorporated into Linux
> desktops to make them friendlier to SOHO and home users while
> maintaining some system safety. For example, have a "super user"
> login that allows the equivalent of root access, but throws up a
> warning message when the root/user is about to make a change
> ordinarily reserved for root--something like "You are about to
> change system files, which could have bad consequences. Okay?
> Cancel?"
> --Judy Miner
Well at install time, there is an option to give root no password.
Then you can function as user, but if you need super-user, you just
ask for the program and you don't get asked for the password. This
works well under 3 conditions:
1. You are really the only user.
2. You are the only user allowed to ssh into the machine
3. You configure Webmin to run from the local loopback only.
It is not perfect, but relaxation beyond that lets in the sort of
nonsense you see in Windows all the time.
Civileme
There are other ways of skirting this issue for multiple users, like
sudo, but this should work better for you than being logged in as
root all the time. Specifically you do not want to log in as root
when you are using the internet.
