PS Re: VVDQ : Alpine on Ubuntu??

[Bernard Peek]

Beartooth Testbedder wrote:
> IOW, no matter what I do (gurux on my favorite LUG to the contrary
> notwithstanding), the practice of typing 'sudo' and a password every
> whipstitch is built in so deep there's no way to dodge it. Are you saying
> that?
>   
I'd just to add a little more explanation about the use of sudo in Linux.

Unlike Windows, Linux maintains a distinction between ordinary users and 
the superuser, usually called 'root'. The superuser isn't bound by any 
of the security restrictions, so someone logged in as superuser can do 
pretty much anything. That includes wiping the entire system with a few 
keystrokes. Linux has its history in multiuser systems where only the 
highly trained systems administrators would ever have the ability to do 
that.

Today Linux systems take two different approaches. One is to have a 
separate 'root' login that is only used when it is necessary to work 
with superuser capabilities. The other is to use sudo when an ordinary 
user temporarily needs superuser privileges. This is the option that 
Ubuntu has chosen.

When you install Ubuntu you create a login ID with a password. That 
login (and by default only that one) can enter the sudo command to 
execute a single command with superuser privileges. When you do that you 
are prompted to re-enter your normal password. Then for a limited time 
after that you can continue to add sudo in front of a normal command and 
have it executed with elevated privileges but without needing to enter a 
password again.

You only need to use the sudo command when you need to work with 
superuser privileges. The rest of the time you use your normal login and 
only have to enter your password at the beginning of a session. When you 
are first setting up a Ubuntu system you may need to spend some time 
tweaking it, and for that you may need superuser privileges quite a lot. 
But once you have the system running the way you want it you should need 
it less and less.

For completeness I will add that there is another option, but it isn't 
recommended. You could enable the root login ID in Ubuntu and do all of 
your work while logged in as root. But you do that at your own risk. 
It's not necessary to do this and it definitely isn't recommended.



-- 
bap at shrdlu.com