That's the beauty of the open source model..... Grab the source, change the behaviour, be happy.
- jim On Thu, 5 Jun 2003 15:24:39 -0700 "Robinson, Eric R." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I had a feeling it was something like that. I disagree with the approach, > though. I have important production machines where I follow all the rules, > login as user, su root, etc. I have other machines where I have evaluated > the risk as insignificant and chosen to login root. It's hard to imagine I > am unusual in having a mix like that. > > Insurmountable security risks? Nah. They could just have a pop-up that says, > "You're logged in as root. Zat cool?" Just because I login root sometimes > does not mean I don't want the edibility to lock my screen when I do. > > As far as "begging for disaster goes," I guess I should be frustrated. > Apparently I've been begging earnestly for years and never received. Just > lucky I guess. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nathan G. Grennan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 7:08 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [RLUG] RedHat "Lock Screen" > > > On Wed, 2003-06-04 at 16:40, Eric Robinson wrote: > > Hey, here's something that has annoyed me to no end, and I'm sure it is > > just because I don't know what I am doing, but... > > > > I have installed various versions of Red Hat over the years, from 5 > > through 9. The GUI has gotten better, but the "Lock Screen" feature has > > never worked on any machine, with any version (okay, maybe once, a long > > time ago, but never since). I select it and nothing happens. It's > > getting kind of funny. I sometimes imagine that in a few years I'll end > > up installing Red Hat 15, and the "Lock Screen" feature will still not > > work. What must I do to get this working? > > > > Works fine for me. Using it many times a day. > > > Question 6 from the XScreensaver FAQ > > > * When I'm logged in as root, xscreensaver won't lock my screen! > > Don't log in as root. > > Please note that xscreensaver works fine as a screen saver when you are > logged in as root: it will not, however, lock your screen when you are > logged in as root. This is for good and insurmountable security reasons. > > In order for it to be safe for xscreensaver to be launched by xdm, > certain precautions had to be taken, among them that xscreensaver never > runs as root. In particular, if it is launched as root (as xdm is likely > to do), xscreensaver will disavow its privileges, and switch itself to a > safe user id (such as ``nobody''.) > > An implication of this is that if you log in as root on the console, > xscreensaver will refuse to lock the screen (because it can't tell the > difference between root being logged in on the console, and a normal > user being logged in on the console but xscreensaver having been > launched by the xdm ``Xsetup'' file.) > > The solution to this is simple: you shouldn't be logging in on the > console as root in the first place! (What, are you crazy or something?) > > Proper Unix hygiene dictates that you should log in as yourself, and su > to root as necessary. People who spend their day logged in as root are > just begging for disaster. > > > > Question 28 from XScreensaver FAQ > > > * What's the difference between xscreensaver and xlock? > > XScreenSaver is a screen saver and a screen locker; XLock is only a > locker. XScreenSaver is modular and extensible; XLock is monolithic. > XScreenSaver has a secure and auditable design; XLock... doesn't. More > details can be found on the XScreenSaver versus XLock page. > > > _______________________________________________ > RLUG mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug > _______________________________________________ > RLUG mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug > _______________________________________________ RLUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug
