RE: [Sheflug] How To Saga

[Alex Hudson <home [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 10:25 +0100, Ted.Harding [at] nessie.mcc.ac.uk wrote:
> Regardless of the outcome of Alec's saga (and I do hope it works out!)
> I find myself very surprised at Ubuntu for not having a root account!

Maybe this is spoiling your mail, but I'm afraid Ubuntu does have a root
account. It doesn't have a password set by default, but 'sudo passwd
root' fixes that if you like logging in as root.

That potentially knocks the rest of your speculation :)

> Is it perhaps the idea that vapourising root will make Ubuntu more
> "friendly" to folk like Windows users whose minds don't quite grasp
> the idea of a privileged user? (Mind you, if that's the objective,
> then the simple solution is to have just one user, root, though
> you can call it something else, e.g. "alec", if you like!).

I don't think it's a friendliness measure; it's more of a security thing
- and Ubuntu is pretty secure by default (e.g., no network services by
default). root is still alive and well, you just can't use the account
yourself by default - you're expected to sudo when you need root power.

I prefer that state of affairs; less margin for error on the part of the
user (i.e., me). Logging in as root less is always good.

Cheers,

Alex.

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