On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:31:51 John Andersen wrote:
On 12/13/2009 9:44 AM, lynn wrote:
And as needing to be root etc, I know all that. A user in linux can not normally install (system) software, but the point is moot here, as the user is often also root and knows the password.
On both sides, the user can usually install "local" software, on his home. I have something installed in "My Documents" in windows.
Hi everyone Sorry to come in late on this but I think it selfish that a user be able to install just his set of software. It would be very difficult for him to install all the packages and put the libraries in his path. If root does it, everyone can share the libs and application.
All well and true, but these days the vast majority of Linux installations are on PERSONAL computers, and as such there us usually exactly ONE user account, and that user also has root.
But you should only use root when you absolutely have to. Some modern distros such as Debian don't even set up a root account login by default - they expect the user to do all admin tasks using sudo instead of root (swings and roundabouts apply). The important thing to realise is that processes launched by a user or under a users account can only run with the privileges/permissions granted to that user (excepting processes with the SUID bit set, which should be avoided wherever possible). This limits the amount of damage a process launched from a user account can do. Unfortunately, if you are logged in as root and don't think carefully about what you're doing, nothing can protect your system from you or any other rogue process launched during that time. Hands up anyone who's accidentally damaged/destroyed a system by typing 'rm -rf *' whilst logged in as root and being in the wrong directory (e.g. / :-()...you usually only do that once! -- =================================================== Rodney Baker VK5ZTV rodney.baker@iinet.net.au =================================================== -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org