apt & sudo question

[jeff]

On Mon, 16 May 2005 13:55:10 -0300
Derek Broughton <auspex at pointerstop.ca> wrote:
 
> You've lost me.  "sudo" eliminates the need for a root passwd.

With my current setup sudo asks for "user" password at least once
after booting and then allows root access.  What I want is access
to root without the need for any passwords.  Possibly there is a
way to do this with sudo?

> I shudder to think what might 
> happen when you go editing the password files.

I edit the password files quite often.  The fields are separated
by ":" and eliminating the second value will eliminate the use
of passwords on most systems.  I believe this is the default state
before any passwords are entered.  This works on RedHat, Mandrake,
and Suse.  I've heard it also works on standard debian.

> How can your computer not 
> have any security needs?  It's apparently on the Internet.

Well.. we do dial up the net for batch transfers of email but in
the last 15+ years, there have not been any problems with security.
In any case, the need for security is decided by individual
users, and if they are not interested or worried then no need for
security exists.

> "sudo" isn't a waste of time, since you _must_ be root to execute a
> great many tools.

Yes, many of my system control scripts switch to root for various
reasons and some programs need root access.  The standard way to
handle this is give programs root access permissions but that isn't
of interest.
 
>  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

Ah.. thanks.  That sounds like the answer.  Is the source list in
a file that can be edited?
 
 all the best, jeff