Re: Annoyance -- Linux requires one to become an instant systems administrator

There are some things you can do to simplify gettign in and out of root:

1.a. Add youself to the "wheel" group in /etc/group
    wheel:x:100:root,<your_user_name>
1.b. Edit /etc/pam.d/su and follow the advice in the comments:
    # Uncomment the following line to implicity trust users in the 
'wheel' group.

The bad side of this, is that if you leave computer unattended and 
logged in as you, someone can enter the room and quickly and easily 
become root.

2. Add the sudo and visudo to your installation.  This allows single 
commands to be run as root without password prompts.  This is important 
if you're running admin scripts or Makefiles that build filesystems.

Maintaining root priv's and utilizing root only when necessary is part 
of what makes Unix secure.  It is common to run Windows with 
administrator (root) privs because it is so difficult to change from 
normal to admin, thus defeating admin security and making it easy for a 
user mode virus to install itself.

Nat

R. Bruce wrote:

>  "Windows is a luxuriously appointed prison cell.  Linux is an
>unassembled log cabin kit."  RB
>
>  What I find most annoying about Linux is that it requires an
>individual who wants to *use* Linux to immediately become a systems
>administrator.  That is to say, there doesn't seem to be a
>straightforward toehold from which one can begin *using* Linux without
>first learning a variety of bewildering and complex CLI-based tools and
>commands.  (Moreover, I'm mildly amused that many of the responses to
>annoyances submitted to this forum are answered by extremely
>administrator-intensive "solutions.")
>
>  I'm luckier than most: I'd been a UNIX user (BSD 4.2) back in the mid
>'80s and so had some idea what I was looking at.  I knew, for example,
>what the vi editor was, what "man" did, how to use chmod, and so on.
>
>  Even so, I today remain constantly annoyed by single-user Linux
>system's overly complex file and program permissions administration. My
>initial attempts to find a *straightforward* solution to the permissions
>problem remain unsuccessful to the extent that after 8 months of using
>Linux (RH8), I still almost always log on as root simply so I can use my
>single-user system without constantly *administering* (there's that word
>again) various file and program access permission levels.
>
>  I'm no fan of Microsoft, believe me.  But that fact remains I was
>able, without training or a third party book, able to quickly install
>Windows and create a *user* account that didn't constantly confront me
>with file and program access-level "error" messages.  In other words, I
>didn't constantly have to type in an Administrator-cum-root level
>password simply to use my computer.  I simply *can not* say that my
>*user* experience with Linux was anywhere near as straightforward or
>pleasant, at least initially.
>
>Cheers,
>Ricardo
>
>
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>  
>

-- 
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Nat Ersoz             [email protected]  -o) 
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