Thanks, Matt, for describing the perils of routinely working as root.
>> well, after once having to ctrl alt backspace out of xwindows and
subsequently loosing my whole linux install, and then later suffering ap
owerloss and again losing my whole system both while logged in as root i
realized the wisdom of logging in as user and then becoming su when i
need to. <<
I do have a UPS so should have time to shut down in orderly fashion if I
lost power, but even the potential of hosing the system gives me pause.
I do expect to work as user once I get the system functioning fully. For
now, just about everything requires me to be root, so I can't see the
point of messing with "su" throughout my session. Plus, "su" requires a
console and I avoid--and intend to continue avoiding--consoles whenever
possible. I expect the GUI to insulate me from consoles and command
lines. Obviously, it's not there yet.
>> actually between using alt f2 to run any program you want as root <<
I haven't found that Alt-F2 let me run programs as root. If the program
requires root privileges, invoking and typing in Alt-F2 when logged in
as user has done nothing at all, in my limited experience. Is there some
magic command modification I just don't know about?
>> the fact that mandrake 8.0 is much better at recognizing when you
need to be root and prompting you for the password it isn't that much of
a burden. <<
I suppose burden is in the eye of the beholder. I find constant typing
of the root password to be annoying in the extreme and results in a fair
amount of lost time if you have to do this several times in a few hours.
--Judy M.
