Password question.

[Steven Vollom]

Paul Rumelhart wrote:
> Steven Vollom wrote:
>   
>> Let me see if I understand what you are suggesting.  When I find this 
>> place to set its value, if I set the value at, let's say, -1, the system 
>> will stay in root until I shut down the system and only reappear when I 
>> boot again?  I could still work from a shell, but when wanting to work 
>> in Root, I could click on a Root Shell and it would be password-entered 
>> when I did?
>>
>> I don't yet understand the purpose of timestamps via sudo -v and sudo -k 
>> respectively.  Since you have read my situation, is this relevant to my 
>> need?  It is my impression that passwords are basically to make a 
>> computer safe from hacker entry and from busy-eyes.  Since I am alone, 
>> the only concern I see for me is my laptop, because I never have anyone 
>> in my home that I don't completely trust when I am on the computer.  If 
>> the Water Meter reader came in to read the meter, I would simply stop 
>> working and attend to them, safe and secure.  Most is for business 
>> related security, isn't it?  Thanks!
>>
>> Steven
>>   
>>     
>
> I think he's assuming that one reason you don't want to type a large 
> password into sudo all the time relates to your needing to use it fairly 
> often.  By setting the timeout to a much larger value, you'll have to 
> type your password into sudo less often.  If you generally need to do a 
> command that needs sudo once every couple of hours, then you'll end up 
> typing your password into sudo each time unless you make the timeout 
> last longer than two hours. 
>
> Depending upon your security concerns, you might want to make this a 
> smaller value than 300, but larger than 5.  The five minute default is 
> meant to protect against someone sneaking in after you have left your 
> computer and typing a dangerous command in to mess with your system.  
> For that to work, they would have to be quick, lucky, and would have to 
> be really knowledgeable about what they're doing.  From what it sounds 
> like to me, you should not have to worry much about having a higher 
> timeout value, since no one will be walking up and messing with your 
> computer while you are there.  If someone breaks in, then they'll just 
> take the computer anyway.
>
> If you worked in an office environment where someone could conceivably 
> walk in and sit at your computer while you are at lunch or in a meeting 
> and mess with your system, then you would probably need to stick with 
> the five minute timeout. 
>
> Paul
>
>
>   
Thanks Paul.  You better understand my situation.  I truly wish I had 
the security concern.  I live and am totally alone.  I may see one 
person a week, and then they are not someone who has time to talk.  I 
see the mailman once in a while.  I see someone from the church once in 
a while, but they are always seeking to be kind to me, even give me 
stuff.  If they took from me, I would forgive them in advance.  They 
could steal from me and not need forgiveness.  I frankly feel that way 
about some of you.  Anyone who cares for me can have anything and 
everything I have with the asking.  I very well know who provides my 
needs, and HE will never run out of the things I need, richest man on 
the planet.

What I really want is to put it into the machine when I boot up, and 
never shut it off.  The resistance I am getting would seem to be 
thinking that I need a parent to take care of and protect me, and the 
parent be a machine, or there is some hidden agenda in the creaters of 
the operating system that I should avoid.  I really don't believe that, 
so anyone who knows how to do what I want to do, tell me,  It is 
important to me.
And thanks.

Steven