On Wednesday 29 February 2012 14:40:13 Larry Stotler wrote:
As many are aware, Linus Torvalds has started a rant about the security policies in openSUSE for things that require the root password. From his Google+ post(https://plus.google.com/102150693225130002912/posts/1vyfmNCYpi5), he names these:
Time Zone changes Adding a Printer Adding a wireless network.
Now, I don't usually see the wireless issue because KNetworkmanager in KDE3(which I use) has never asked the root password for adding a new network.
While at 37, I've never changed timezones(I lead a boring life) I would have to agree that having to use the root password for this would be annoying if I needed to change it because of a flight or something.
I've worked with Linus on a hardware issue years ago, and I think we should probably at least consider reviewing the policies if they do need changed.
They are being reconsidered. Heck, some have been changed already, and others might. Also, Linus is not always right - some of the things he complained about were not oS' fault but GNOME Shell (which can't decouple changing timezones for the clock of a single user vs from changing time systemwide) and lacking printer drivers (if you don't have the printer driver you need a root password to install one). /Jos
Just my 2 cents.