apt & sudo question

[Derek Broughton]

On Sunday 15 May 2005 19:10, jeff wrote:
>
> 1. How does one eliminate sudo and the root password.  I've
>    tried to work with sudo using "sudo -s" and I've edited
>    the "passwd" and "shadow" password files to elimiate all
>    passwords.  The edits work on other distributions but not
>    on Kubuntu.  Also, using sudo is a waste of time.  This
>    computer does not have any security needs.

You've lost me.  "sudo" eliminates the need for a root passwd.  "passwd" would 
be the correct way to eliminate passwords.  I shudder to think what might 
happen when you go editing the password files.  How can your computer not 
have any security needs?  It's apparently on the Internet.  QED.

"sudo" isn't a waste of time, since you _must_ be root to execute a great many 
tools.  The only way around regular use of sudo is to actually log in as 
root.  That's a quick way to discover exactly how much you need security.

> 2. I need to install a large number of development tools that
>    don't change very often.  They are available at the debian
>    archive but it is a pain to use apt-get with this slow modem.
>    Can I simply order a dvd snapshot of the debian archive and
>    tell apt-get to use it?  The dvd's at www.budgetlinuxcds.com
>    are quite inexpensive and they have a debian snapshot with
>    the needed files.

Absolutely.  I've never actually used DVD snapshots, but I would expect it to 
be identical to using a CD:

My sources.list contains (on one line):
deb cdrom:[Kubuntu 5.04 _Hoary Hedgehog_ - Release i386 (20050407)]/ hoary 
main restricted

Which should be similar for the CD/DVD for any Debian-based distro.
-- 
derek