undo sudo

[Avi Greenbury]

On Wed, 21 May 2008 14:04:22 -0400
Jonathan Hirschman <jonathan at hirschman.net> wrote:
> Pastor JW wrote:
> > Is there some way to get rid of that useless sudo command and get root back?  
> > This is making Ubuntu about as useless for the user as windoze.  Why is there 
> > all this fear that a user might actually be able to use his own computer?   
> > It  is called a "Personal Computer" and is becoming anything but, complete 
> > with noisy bandwasting religious wars over how to better keep the power of 
> > the computer away from its owner.  Reminds me of the buggy whip makers 
> > arguments against the manufacturing of the automobile.  
> >
> >   
> I apologize in advance if this comes off as pedantic. What you're asking 
> for is directions on how to shoot yourself in the foot. 

No he's not. He's asking how to log in as root. Which was common
practice before sudo, and no-one died through that.

>						    You're undoing a 
> major protection that running Linux offers. You may be better off 
> running Windows, since you're looking for directions to make Linux more 
> Windows-like.

If by 'more windows-like' you mean 'more user friendly', then I suppose
you are correct.

> 
> If you do everything as root, you'll have a machine as compromised as a 
> Windows box before too long, which is why most Windows boxes end up as 
> "useless". I run Windows the same way as Linux - as an unprivileged user 
> unless I need to do something that requires root. I strongly, strongly 
> recommend that you DO NOT run as root unless absolutely required, nor 
> will I be held responsible for you following my directions.

He's not asking to do everything as root. He's asking to do *some*
things as root. Which is exactly what sudo lets you do.
When I've got a whole chunk of things to do as root, I *always* su,
else I end up with read-only vim sessions when I forget that I need to
prefix _every_ command with another five digits.


>							(as will any 
> evildoers should they guess your password).

Does sudo protect against this?

-- 
Avi Greenbury