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Well maybe we'll just appoint you the ultimate censor and only allow posts or answers that you approve of, who the hell do you think you are?
And like I said previous versions of Debian allowed this login and I don't remember you calling the developers and telling them what to do with their OS.
It's more about personal choices. We had pretty much this same discussion not too long ago that turned into a mess. See this link.
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...er-logins.html
We respect your right to do what ever you like with your machine and OS but you have to respect our right to not help you with it if we think it's too risky or even just bad practice. I wouldn't help anyone compile programs like password crackers or a virus either. We're only volunteers here and we're not trying to censor you. My opinion is that there is a lot of information out there that should be more that plenty of help to accomplish this.
My only point is the developers allowed this login on previous versions and must have thought it was alright, they may have changed their minds but I'm sure no forum tried to tell them what to do.
No one is censoring you - don't be such a drama queen... :rolleyes:
"Previous versions of debian" allowing this or not is irrelevant. Whether or not root login to an x session is allowed depends on the DE, display manager or window manager you're using - so in your case it's up to the gnome devs... For your information GDM has not allowed this as long as I can remember, neither has KDM. You have to run the display manager's config tool or do a manual edit to the configuration to change it (as root).
As I said before - if you feel the need to log into an xsession as root it's because you're doing something wrong. In most cases where a user demands this, it's usually because they are fresh from the windows environment and see this as an unnecessary restriction. It's not any restriction at all, it's by design. Certain processes are supposed to run as root, other process are supposed to run as user. There are thousands of reasons for this - if you even have to ask why - then don't run a display manager or DE as root.
Personally I cannot imagine any case where you would need to run as root? If it's because you need to run e.g. a file manager as root, there are very simple ways to achieve this without logging in the whole x session as the root user... :rolleyes:
Code:man gksu
Well thanks for your blinders view of what anyone else might need to do, I'm sure from now on we all fall in step with whatever you want.
There's really no need for all of this sarcasm.
You posted a question on a forum. A forum that is frequented by volunteers and hobbyists.
You asked for details on logging into the GUI as root, which is commonly seen as a pretty bad idea. For several good reasons.
If we, the volunteers, don't feel comfortable providing the steps that you are asking for, then I'm sorry about your luck.
But as MikeTbob pointed out, there are other sources to find that information.
For your information I did not post a question on this forum asking for details on logging into the GUI as root.
I posted a reply to a forum member in need, some feel it's bad, I feel it's the one in need who requires an answer.
Oops... You're not the OP. Sorry bout that.
Oh well...:rolleyes:
Whether you are the OP or not is irrelevant - you posted this:
My response was to that, not to the solution you posted. I fully agree with you posting your solution and of course that it should not be censored - but other are also free to criticise it.Quote:
Originally Posted by quartermass
If you don't like some of the answers you receive on a GNU/Linux forum, then I suggest you avoid all forums in future. This is not paid spoonfed tech support, most people come to these forums to learn. Posting on a forum invariably means receiving some answers you are not going to like. In your case you're misinformed and are raging against anyone giving you good advice because it doesn't fit what you want to do and what you've advised others to do. GNU/Linux is not about restriction - the "it's my computer!" argument has been done over and over again. The whole point of a distro like debian is that "it's your computer", with ms windows you run as root and it's certainly not your computer. If you have the root password - which I'm sure you do, then you can log in as root as and when required - that's not the issue. The issue is how you run as root. If you go to any forum, except one populated by clueless idiots (I don't know of any) and post the same thing you did, or ask the OP's question, you will get the same answer to this question. It's insecure, dangerous and foolhardy, there is no reason to do it - there are several other, better, safer, more secure, more efficient ways of doing the same thing. There are very few programs you should need to run as root anyway. If you run the whole window manager/desktop as root, then every program runs as root. Running something like a web browser is not only pointless, it's a stupid thing to do.
Maybe you should do some research and find out why you get those kinds of answers?Quote:
Originally Posted by quartermass
Don't confuse two separate issues here - if you go to the 'buntu forums and post "sudo passwd root" it will likely get your post deleted, and in some cases banned, because it goes against their policies. This is not the same issue. There is nothing wrong with enabling the root account - sudo is not a requirement it's a preference. There is a hell of a lot wrong with running an x session as root. This is not my opinion or what I'm forcing on you, this is by design - if you want to go ahead and do it anyway go ahead - knock yourself out.
My 2 cents... if someone asks a question, answer the question. Sure, it's ok to give some advice like "Hey, this is kind of a dangerous thing to do... " but also give the answer. Why should you care if some smuck somewhere blows away a server or causes havoc after you gave out a friendly warning, you did your part. Also, you don't know the circumstances of the poster. Maybe it's a student learning on a hobby computer or an experimental dev environment that is not crical value and they need a work-around. Overall... to just give a censorship answer of " YOU SHOULD NOT DO THAT" is rather unproductive and annoying. I suggest giving other users a warning label and the answer they are asking for. Let the end user fall up his or her own digital sword they created.