set up a root password

[Jerry Gaiser]

On Tuesday 05 August 2008 10:24, Derek Broughton wrote:
> cliff weisgerber wrote:
> > I have been a UN*X guru since the PDP days of Bell Labs and then Berkeley
> > and then...and then linux.  My first experience with kubuntu left me
> > wondering how to get root access, which is necessary.
>
> Root _access_ is necessary.  "su" isn't.

I've been hacking Unix since the mid 80's. Been with Linux since 0.12

One of the first things *I* do is give root a password.

This whole discussion seems to miss the point the a newbie can do as much 
damage with 'sudo' as with 'su'. It's just as easy to forget the you are 
at '/home/username' and type 'sudo rm -rf *'as it is with a real root account 
(been there, done that. Results were not pretty). Either way the damage is 
done. 'sudo' doesn't prevent stupidity. 

-- 
Jerry Gaiser in North Plains, Oregon USA - 45.6933N 123.0418W
"...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in one pretty and well-preserved piece, but to slide across the
finish line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, and
shouting GERONIMO!!!" -- Bill McKenna