On Thu 03 Jun 2010 16:03:38 NZST +1200, Nick Rout wrote: > physical access means root access!
Only if you can boot from CD/USB stick (which any lab admin has disabled), or if you manage to disassemble the computer while the lab admin looks at you holding his baseball bat. Good luck. On the list of reasons why "you couldn't possibly afford a root password on a lab computer" is pretty darn silly, which haven't been mentioned: * The admin might have a very good reason to need or want it. * If your root password can be brute-forced during a lab class, you sure didn't deserve any better anyway. * It's a research institution, so playing with the security system where the potential damage is marginal is part of the game. I know admins who just shrug their shoulders for this very reason, as long as no actual damage takes place. * Did someone go there to get a degree, or to be kicked off campus by the acceptable use policy? But the most annoying thing about sudo is the crowd of Buntunistas(TM) who think everyone absolutely has to use it everytime everywhere just because it's the default for their favourite distro, when benefits are at best arguable and at worst a security problem. It's a tool. It gets used when and if it gives a useful return. Just like with any other tool. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me.
