Source: live-config Version: 11.0.5 I suggest that Debian Live do what some other popular distros do and simply not set a password for the default live user.
Benefits ====== - One thing that Debian Live struggles with is how to communicate the default password to people that need it. This was worked around by opening up PolicyKit and sudo. But by avoiding setting a password, there is no need to communicate the default password. - I believe this could allow us to remove components/1080-policykit . - PolicyKit prompts should more closely resemble their default state. In GNOME at least, the PolicyKit authentication prompt would still appear but with a simple button to approve the requested action instead of a password prompt. It can be more difficult to reproduce certain PolicyKit configuration bugs in Debian Live because of how PolicyKit has been overridden. An example bug: https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/lomiri-system-settings/-/work_items/415 Other Distros =========== Ubuntu's current default live user account does not have a password. Additionally, Ubuntu has a drop-in in /etc/sudoers.d/ to ensure password-less sudo access. Because the user acccount is in the sudo group and does not have a password, the PolicyKit prompt still shows but there is a simple Authenticate button. Fedora also doesn't set a password for the live user account, so Fedora's live environment also has passwordless sudo and PolicyKit. (The passwordless sudo appears to work there without extra configuration of sudo.) (There are a few Ubuntu desktop flavors that use a different installer. I noticed that these flavors still set a simple password for the live user but otherwise it works the same as regular live Ubuntu. This may be an unintentional difference compared to the other Ubuntu desktop flavors.) Thank you, Jeremy Bícha
