Root User vs Normal User Logins

[oz]

Here's a nice but fairly brief HowTo for any new users that need the proper steps for gaining root privileges as they might need them:

TipsAndTricks/BecomingRoot - CentOS Wiki

It was written for CentOS users, but should work with other distros as well.

[kohog]

Hello, kohog

Just because some of the replies here may infuriate you does not mean the people who submitted them were infuriated. You quoted me before making your comment, so I can only assume that you thought my comments were infuriated, but that was not the case at all.

I didn't think you sounded infuriated, but there were others who started cursing and screaming TROLL, which seems a little infuriated to me. I guess I should have made it clear that I was talking about them.
I quoted you because I wanted to point out that I agreed with all you said in all my previous posts.

I still don't agree with those who said that logging in as root is always a bad idea and they still haven't been able to come up with a single example that makes sense. Lot's of nonsense, though...

I never said that running X/Nautilus/whatever as root is a good idea.

No... not in so many words. You simply said that it doesn't matter, because it's the same thing.

I said it doesn't matter whether you log in as root or use su; "su -c nautilus" does the same thing as starting nautilus when logged in as root. I never said that you should use nautilus at all, though - that was your brilliant idea. If you need GUI tools for everything, you should ask someone more knowledgeable for help with admin tasks, in my opinion.

Well, I voted no because it's not a thing I usually do. But that's because I usually work in GUI, and a sudo bash option gives me a root console when I want one.

I avoid root terminals in X. Once when I had opened an xterm, X decided to dump the whole clip buffer into the window, as if I had pressed the middle button on the mouse. Just imagine what could have happened if it had been a root terminal and I had copied a bash script into the clip buffer.
This example shows that you are not protected from buggy GUI programs when using su. Logged in as root on a console, you are always safe, though.

However, when I work in text mode (which I admit I seldom do nowadays), I log in as myself on console 2 (maybe on 3 as well) and then if I need to do some things as root, I log in as root on console 1.

This is what I do, too. There is absolutely no reason to first log in as a regular user on console 1 and then use su.
If I need X for some reason, I would of course start it from console 2, not the root console.

[MikeTbob]

I didn't think you sounded infuriated, but there were others who started cursing and screaming TROLL, which seems a little infuriated to me. I guess I should have made it clear that I was talking about them.
I quoted you because I wanted to point out that I agreed with all you said in all my previous posts.

I still don't agree with those who said that logging in as root is always a bad idea and they still haven't been able to come up with a single example that makes sense. Lot's of nonsense, though...


I said it doesn't matter whether you log in as root or use su; "su -c nautilus" does the same thing as starting nautilus when logged in as root. I never said that you should use nautilus at all, though - that was your brilliant idea. If you need GUI tools for everything, you should ask someone more knowledgeable for help with admin tasks, in my opinion.


I avoid root terminals in X. Once when I had opened an xterm, X decided to dump the whole clip buffer into the window, as if I had pressed the middle button on the mouse. Just imagine what could have happened if it had been a root terminal and I had copied a bash script into the clip buffer.
This example shows that you are not protected from buggy GUI programs when using su. Logged in as root on a console, you are always safe, though.


This is what I do, too. There is absolutely no reason to first log in as a regular user on console 1 and then use su.
If I need X for some reason, I would of course start it from console 2, not the root console.

And the truth shall set you free!
I think we're all talking about the same thing here and no you didn't infuriate me, more like exasperated me because I thought you were telling people it's okay to log into the Desktop as root...which is stupid. I guess I could have made myself more clear in my first post so I'll do that now. Logging in to the Desktop or X as root is a bad idea and it will cause your teeth to fall out and you will become Impotent.

started cursing and screaming TROLL

LOL classic, I said "h3ll" and that means I'm cursing,,oh noes!
I also said "Trolling, if you will"
So, how should I type this out so it doesn't sound like I'm "screaming"?

[jayd512]

To be honest, I thought you meant the same thing.
Which, I think, is where all the confusion came from!