[Nottingham] root/sudo

[david at gbenet.com]

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On 03/05/12 21:35, Martin wrote:
> On 03/05/12 18:23, Paul Sladen wrote:
>> On Tue, 1 May 2012, david at gbenet.com wrote:
>>> You wonder what kind of an person scrapped root?
>>
>> Ubuntu includes a man page (information page) about the topic:
>>
>>   man sudo_root
>>
>> When an Ubuntu user opens a terminal he following is printed:
>>
>>   To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
>>   See "man sudo_root" for details.
>>
>>   user at machine:~$ _
>>
>> (This message will continue to be shown until that user has activated
>> 'sudo' at least once.  Do 'rm ~/.sudo_as_admin_successful' to reset)
>>
>> Most modern operating systems are designed with security in this way
>> (Mac OS X, Ubuntu, recent MS Windows).  The user is identifying
>> themselves, instead of entering a shared secret.
>>
>> For new users this is natural.  For adminstrators of huge-scale
>> systems this is natural (you /really/ don't want a shared passwd
> [---]
> 
> Good comment and a good comment for the deeper issue that users expect
> 'security' (like locks on doors and windows) yet some users (most?) find
> passwords to be an almost impossible irritation and just plain difficult.
> 
> I consider "sudo" to be a good idea, but then for some sys-admin work, I
> find it to be far more convenient to just simply stay logged in as root.
> At least for my case, any terminals I leave open with root are
> physically secure. Certainly not something to be done in an open office!
> 
> 
>> [*] With a shared secret fingerprints, everyone would have to pass
>> around the boss' severed thumb to authenicate!
> 
> Or worse... As shown on the Da Vinci Code film... Ouch! :-(
> 
> 
> So is there any better way?
> 
> Cheers,
> Martin
> 
> 
Hi Martin,

I have drawn many comments re: Ubuntu. And I much appreciate them. But I like the option to
log in as root at the point of selecting a user and password to log in - I appreciate that
Windows users do not need to do this - or even be aware that they can access root via a
terminal. I use sudo and sh daily. But to  get down to the root file system and be able to
edit files search for them run commands cut and past edit pop off to the web and have a
pint of beer and a ciggy a GUI is very handy. So why make it hard? Think about it.

Anyway I have gone back to opensuse 11.1 lxde. I don't need to open a  terminal to get to
all the functions of root which  clearly Ubuntu does not want you to do. It's like Windows
files - even as administrator you can't see all the files on your system and the system does
not allow you to edit or even delete directories (folders for Windows people).

Have you imported your signed key yet?

David

- -- 
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