user # access?

rikona rikona at sonic.net
Wed May 15 17:11:44 UTC 2019


On Wed, 15 May 2019 08:53:58 -0400 (EDT)
Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:

> At Wed, 15 May 2019 06:24:39 +0200 "Ubuntu user technical support,
> not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > On Tue, 14 May 2019 23:20:39 -0400 (EDT), Robert Heller wrote:  
> > >Well, you are not going to able to use a GUI out-of-the-box, unless
> > >you login to the GUI as root -- not something that is normally
> > >possible with an out-of-the-box install of Ubuntu (and is not
> > >something that is recomended even on a Linux distro with a real
> > >root login).  
> > 
> > That is generalized nonsense.
> > 
> > Without root privileges a GUI app such as
> > 
> >   gparted
> > 
> > is useless! It is strongly recommended to run the GUI app gparted
> > with root privileges!  
> 
> Yes, but one can use sudo for that. I do that with virt-manager on my
> CentOS machine. Using a system *logged in as root to the full GUI
> desktop* is dangerous and not recomended, most certainly not for
> day-to-day use, although sometimes needed for special admin tasks.
> The OP is (obviously) something of a newby and NOT an experienced
> system admin. The recomendation in his case is to not login as root
> -- he is likely to get himself in serious trouble, and for what he is
> doing, there are other, safer options.

I DO understand the dangers and would not do that unless it was very 
temporary and there was no other way.

Newby is an interesting word. It suggests "new to comps" but misses the
issue. I've been using personal comps since CPM, so they're not new to
me. But, I'm a user of just another tool, and I learn just enough about
this VERRRY complex tool to do the task at hand. In that respect I'm
probably just like most users. But, if I do have a problem I first
search for a solution and see if I can fix it on my own. If I can't put
the pieces together to get a solution I may contact the list, but only
as a last resort. I do appreciate the help from the very knowledgeable
folks on this list!

Part of the issue is that I've had 3-6 users on my local comps and I
need to access, and copy parts of, all the info on the old disks.

> > 
> > My Ubuntu 16.04 install isn't an OOTB install, but among other I've
> > got the
> > 
> > Ubuntu-Mate 18.04.1 live DVD
> > Xubuntu 18.10 live DVD
> > Ubuntu-Budgie 19.04 live DVD
> > 
> > at hand.
> > 
> > Usually I'm using those live DVDs to backup my Ubuntu 16.04 and Arch
> > Linux installs, but sometimes I'm using a GUI with root privileges
> > to access home of a user with incompatible UID and GID.
> > 
> > If a file browser is wanted I recommend to install caja when running
> > Xubuntu or Ubuntu-Budgie live media.
> > 
> >   sudo apt update
> >   sudo apt install caja
> > 
> > Ubuntu-Mate comes with it by default.
> > 
> > Open the terminal and run
> > 
> >   sudo -i
> > 
> > then run
> > 
> >   caja
> > 
> > close caja and run another GUI app.
> > 
> > When not using one of those live DVDs consider to start a X session
> > instead of a Wayland session. Install the package gksu. After that
> > start GUI apps with gksudo. For example
> > 
> >   gksudo caja
> > 
> > Regards,
> > Ralf
> > 
> >   
> 





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