Password question.

[Eberhard Roloff]

Steven Vollom wrote:
> Eberhard Roloff wrote:
>> Steven Vollom wrote:
>>   
>>> I would like to set a password that allows me to enter my system that is 
>>> very secure, however, when I am in the system, I would like to have a 
>>> very simple password to enter root, perhaps as small as a couple of 
>>> letters.  Is this possible?
>>>
>>> Steven
>>>
>>>
>>>     
>> With Linux, genarally anything is possible.;-)
>>
>> While this is possible, I would not advise to implent it. The Ubuntu 
>> concept of the first  user i.e. the admin user is that you use a rather 
>> secure password to login and then use the same to "su" to root, as needed.
>>
>> You can alter this and there are howtos to separate root to use its own 
>> password.
>>
>> It's actually quite simple but I would not advise you to do it since you 
>> are already familiar with the "Ubuntu way" of doing things. This is 
>> because, when you do it, your system will behave differently afterwards 
>> and you will need to treat it differently.
>>
>> Kind regards
>> Eberhard
>>
>>
>>   
> Sorry I wasn't paying adequate attention to what you just wrote.  I was 
> already thinking of possible reasons for avoiding this.  How does it 
> change my system?  What change in behavior would be anticipated?  In my 
> situation, is it more insecure?  TIA, friend.
> 
> Steven
> 

Hi Steven,

Well, I cannot answer this. There are numerous discussions around 
whether the Ubuntu way is more secure or not than "the other way round", 
which is, just for example, the SuSe or Red Hat way.

Although I surely have my own opinion about this, I will not divulge it, 
there are to many flames around. ;-)

What are the differences?

Now you are just doing sudo fsck /dev/sda1
alternatively when you need to be root for any length of time, you will do:
sudo -i
Password

With a separate root account, it is similar but not at all identical.
For example, sudo "something" will no longer work (except if you go and 
configure it) and you will most likely use "su -" to become root and 
then "exit" or "Ctrl+D" to exit root.

Furthermore, I think you REALLY might prefer to use a strong root 
password and a weaker user password, since it is root where a 
compromised security will have potentially disastrous consequences.

Again, if you are familiar with the Ubnutu way, I would strongly 
recommend to leave it at that.

If you insist to have a separate password for root, you might google this:
http://www.ubuntux.org/how-to-change-the-root-password-in-ubuntu

Kind regards
Eberhard