Problems with OEM installation

Antony Gelberg antony at wayforth.co.uk
Tue Apr 11 23:15:10 UTC 2006


Daniel Carrera wrote:
> Antony Gelberg wrote:
> 
>>> Ok. I understand the logic behind that choice. But what should I do 
>>> when Dapper comes out? I don't want to ask the user for his username 
>>> and password, we have to train users to know "we will never ask you 
>>> for your password" so they won't fall for scams.
>>>
>>> Is there a good solution for this? Or should I just leave him with 
>>> Breezy?
>>
>>
>> Call me old-fashioned, but I would always want a root password on any 
>> box that I admin.
> 
> 
> Exactly. It seems like the OEM Ubuntu is written with the expectation 
> that the OEM will not admin the box after the sale. I guess that this 
> wuold be true for most OEMs. But I was sort of expecting to at least 
> upgrade it to Dapper later.
> 
> So, I guess that my options are to ask the user for his password or to 
> never upgrade to Dapper. I don't know what to choose. Any opinions?

There's a thread on this list called "Enterprise install" which I 
started recently, asking about installing with a root password, instead 
of the standard Ubuntu method which I regard as Mickey Mouse.  :P  Colin 
Watson's response was most helpful - if you do an expert install, you 
can set a root password.  No good with an OEM install though.

I haven't tried an OEM install myself, but if you can get a shell with 
Alt-F2, you might be able to chroot to the target installation and run 
passwd, at the very end of the install.

This would perhaps make an interesting wishlist request for the installer.

I think that this highlights that you are slightly trying to fit a round 
peg into a square hole.  Generally, in the OEM world, the end-user is 
the admin as well.  Having a separate admin is generally more of an 
enterprise concept.  If you supply OEM, the user is the admin, who are 
you to have root etc.  If you want to be the admin, then be the admin, 
set up the user accounts, and manage the box.




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