Newbie trying to access SU in Ubuntu
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From: Keith Keller on 17 Feb 2010 16:37 On 2010-02-17, unruh <unruh(a)wormhole.physics.ubc.ca> wrote: > > Sure. And if you unplug the computer, you cannot engage in lots of other > bad habits. But then, is the purpose of a computer to lock you into > obeying a set of rules, or for getting a job done. Education is a lot > better than ankle-irons. This can work both ways. For example, you don't (usually) teach a kid to ride a bicycle by throwing him out on an adult bike--you get him a kid bike with training wheels. Think of no-root-password as training wheels. Some users won't want the training wheels, in which case they can still take them off (sudo passwd root). --keith -- kkeller-usenet(a)wombat.san-francisco.ca.us (try just my userid to email me) AOLSFAQ=http://www.therockgarden.ca/aolsfaq.txt see X- headers for PGP signature information
From: Robert Heller on 17 Feb 2010 16:46 At Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:43:56 GMT unruh <unruh(a)wormhole.physics.ubc.ca> wrote: > > On 2010-02-17, John Hasler <jhasler(a)newsguy.com> wrote: > >> Is it inherently safer to run commands as sudo root than after su'ing > >> to root? Just curious. WHat's the reason not to set a root password? > > > > The lack of a root password prevents new users from following their > > Windows habit and running as root at all times. > > Sure. And if you unplug the computer, you cannot engage in lots of other > bad habits. But then, is the purpose of a computer to lock you into > obeying a set of rules, or for getting a job done. Education is a lot > better than ankle-irons. True. The RedHat/Fedora/CentOS install process asks for a root password. Then during the First Boot process they ask you to create a normal user. It is easy to skip the normal user creation process and just log in as root (but it is a bad to do so). I'm guessing Ubuntu's install process skips the root password process and instead creates a normal user w/ sudo access. Note: MacOSX's first time setup does much the same thing. For normal/newbie users this is probably a reasonable and 'safe' thing to do. It is possible on Ubuntu to create a real root password (I *guess* this is also possible with MacOSX as well). And I suppose that for some level of *experienced* user this might make sense. Ubuntu does not *prevent* you from doing this, it simply does not do it by default. For normal users, there is no need to log in as root. Actually, since the 'invention' of sudo, there has not been a real need to log in as root on any UNIX or UNIX-like system. Old school types still do, mostly out of habit. The real question is not 'WHat's the reason not to set a root password?', but 'WHat's the reason TO to set a root password?'. > > -- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Deepwoods Software -- Download the Model Railroad System http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows heller(a)deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/
From: John Hasler on 17 Feb 2010 16:57 Bill Unruh writes: > I presume that you CAN give root a password and log on as root. Yes, of course you can. So can the new user, once he learns how. -- John Hasler jhasler(a)newsguy.com Dancing Horse Hill Elmwood, WI USA
From: unruh on 17 Feb 2010 17:12 On 2010-02-17, GangGreene <GangGreene(a)example.com> wrote: > unruh wrote: > >> On 2010-02-17, Rahul <nospam(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: >>> John Hasler <jhasler(a)newsguy.com> wrote in >>> news:87wrydxiwi.fsf(a)thumper.dhh.gt.org: >>> >>>> Ubuntu configuration has no root password. However, you don't need it >>>> anyway. You can run commands as root by typing "sudo command" where >>>> "command" is the command you need to run as root and then responding >>>> with your own password. With this you can accomplish everything you >>>> could by logging in as root. Others have explained how to set a root >>>> password. Don't do it. >>>> >>> >>> Is it inherently safer to run commands as sudo root than after su'ing to >>> root? Just curious. WHat's the reason not to set a root password? >>> >> >> I presume that you CAN give root a password and log on as root. >> >> sudo passwd >> for example or >> sudo vi /etc/shadow >> and copy over your user password, and then log on as root and put in a >> real root password. Or do they nanny you so much as to make this >> impossible ( eg run a cron job every minute which checks if root has a >> password and zeros it out.) > > or My favorite ---> sudo sed -i 's|root:!:|root::|' /etc/shadow Just in case someone does not realise what this does, it removes all passwords from root, and allows anyone in the world to log onto your machine as root. > >
From: J G Miller on 17 Feb 2010 17:45
On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:37:52 -0600, Robert Heller wrote: > This avoids accidents and what not. Like sudo rm -fr / some_directory_temporary_directory |