Text written by Scott D. Yelich at 06:46 PM 3/23/99 -0700:
>
>> >the root command (since it's not a single person who does this).
>> Around "the root command"? Personally, I'd write a wrapper around the
>> _passwd_ command, partly _because_ more than one person keeps making this
>> mistake.
>
>god damn, jump down my throat why don't you?
Sorry, I wasn't trying to jump down your throat. I was honestly confused by
your word choice.
Okay, so I advised doing the thing you didn't want to do.
>Ok, so it was a poor choice of words. I thought it was clever.
Sorry, it went straight over my head. After all, "root" does have another
common meaning in Unix-ese.
>My safeguard is another copy of the original root password in the
>/etc/password (or /etc/shadow) file. I really didn't see it
>as a major foopah.
I don't think it's really that awful, although I do prefer the idea of
training the users to deal with the system properly rather than expecting
it to read their minds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kai MacTane
System Administrator
Online Partners.com, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>From the Jargon File: (v4.0.0, 25 Jul 1996)
earthquake /n./
[IBM] The ultimate real-world shock test for computer hardware.
Hackish sources at IBM deny the rumor that the Bay Area quake of
1989 was initiated by the company to test quality-assurance
procedures at its California plants.
