Kubuntu experience

[Brian Astill]

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 01:01, Pierfrancesco Caci wrote:
> :-> "Brian" == Brian Astill <bastill at adam.com.au> writes:
>     > sudo is dangerous and also awkward for anything other than an
>     > occasional
>
> You should tell us all why sudo would be more dangerous than having a
> root login enabled. Please.

I can't understand why you don't understand!  :-)
The standard Unix way of doing things is for root to own the system and 
to allow users to use that system subject to not being allowed to mess 
about with it
Root is all-powerful.  I have known some paranoid people who would not 
operate as root without first disconnecting from the network and the 
internet - and then would not leave the system unattended until their 
root work was finished.  They were (overly?) concerned that someone 
might break in electronically or physically and wreak havoc.
In any event, one does NOT operate as root on a day-to-day basis.  You 
set up a personal account for normal usage.

Sudo is an emergency privilege sort of thing.  Root might be going on 
holiday and need someone to run things while they are away.  Granting a 
sudo allows the "assistant" to run the system as root WITHOUT root 
having to reveal root's password to them.  The sudo privilege can be 
revoked by root at any time. 

The problem with sudo privilege is that you are always effectively 
running as root - all anyone has to do is type "sudo" before any 
command they wish to use - even "sudo rm -fR /* - to do whatever they 
wish with your system.  NOT secure.


-- 
Regards,
Brian