The last word on Passwords

[Bruce Marshall]

Steven:

Here are the rules you are operating under:

1)  Your normal user is 'steven'  and for that user you have a password.
2) You use 'steven' to login to the KDE environment.
3) As such, you are a normal (unprivileged) user except when using SUDO.
4) Everything you do in KDE (with a few exceptions) you do as an unpriv user.
5) For those commands you might want to use (adept, synaptic, some system 
settings), those commands will issue a sudo for you and ask for your 'steven' 
password.  They then execute those commands as if root had issued them.

All of the above is the way most people use the kubuntu system.  They stay as 
their unpriviledged user, and provide their user passwd when some system 
command needs to be issued.   Comprendez?

For all of the above, there is only ONE password, the same password you used 
to login to KDE....  and that is the password for 'steven'.

And I just had a 'light bulb moment'.

And you are NOT going to be able to do what you want.

I was trying to steer you to a root shell in a konsole window.  If you had 
attained that (and you are almost there), you would NOT be able to do what 
you want because all of the commands would have to be entered at what we call 
the CLI level (command line interface)

Thus to enter 'system settings', you would have to enter 'systemsettings' and 
know enough to do that (different than what you think).   And to change KDE 
settings, you would have to enter  'kcontrol'  and know to do that.  This is 
not what you want.

So,  use a reasonable password,   use 'sudo', and live a happy life.   You 
CANNOT be root while at the KDE level.

But having said that, you're best bet is to go waaay back to this morning (if 
I recall) and make the changes that will  allow you to enter your password 
once every xx hours...    or only once.   That's what you really want.

So if you had set that to 8 hours... for example, you could click on adept all 
you want for up to 8 hours and not have to re-enter your password.  If it can 
be set to infinity, so much the better.

As far as I know, that comes closest to what you are trying to get to.


Over and out.