Root access (su, sudo, etc.) entry

[Jerry3904]

I have drafted up a new Wiki entry on this topic, along with cross refs to it for sudo and su:

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/wiki/system/root-access

Does it need a discussion of sudoers for antiX (wouldn't come from me!)? Included a link to a handy overview of advantages and disadvantages of using sudo.

I would appreciate some review/critique/etc. Any other documentation needed?

TIA

[chrispop99]

I wonder whether a brief explanation as to when/how gksu might be used is desirable?

BTW, the section under 'Other' is using a different font to the rest of the page, and disappears off the edge here.

Chris

[Jerry3904]

Thanks. Not totally sure about that gksu yet, but I added the man page to the Links for now.

EDIT: maybe I should put gksu in its own category like su and sudo?

[dolphin_oracle]

su

antiX Linux (MX Linux) uses a “true root,” meaning that the Manual and the Forum will generally instruct the use of su. su lets you switch user so that you’re actually logged in as root but uses the environment of the user root,

maybe say MX Linux (antiX MX Edition) uses...

gksu can be configured to use either sudo or root account authentication. in antiX 15 this is configurable in the control center although sudo is the default.

[Jerry3904]

Yeah, I meant to put "antiX MX" ...

[joany]

There's also kdesu for us KDE aficionados.

One thing that puzzles me is why sudo is considered "safer" than su.

In Linux (and Unix in general), there is a SuperUser named Root. The Windows equivalent of Root is Administrators group. The SuperUser can do anything and everything, and thus doing daily work as the SuperUser can be dangerous. You could type a command incorrectly and destroy the system.

Wouldn't "sudo rmdir /" while working under user do just as much damage as "rmdir /" while working under su?

[Jerry3904]

It's only safer with respect to ordinary users.

Will try to fit kdesu in somewhere.

[MX-tester]

One thing that puzzles me is why sudo is considered "safer" than su.

You can tailor sudo to allow just a few commands to be run, by only some people, or a certain group, also it can 'time out'.
Whereas, if you su, you are now able to do anything system wide, including deleting it.

[sanlav]

Small clarifiation:
gksu means (liberally) GTK(libs)-su.

When wheezy was in testing, except the obvious su, I used gksu for scripts on Desk Env. based on gtk like:

7kaa.sh:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

gksu 'rovclock -m 864'
# gksu 'rovclock -m 972'
xrandr -s 800x600 -r 60
7kaa
xrandr -s 1360x768
# gksu 'rovclock -m 864'
gksu 'rovclock -m 756'

pcsxr.sh:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

gksu 'rovclock -m 864'
# gksu 'rovclock -m 972'
xrandr -s 640x480 -r 60
pcsx
# gksu 'rovclock -m 864'
gksu 'rovclock -m 756'
xrandr -s 1360x768

My simple point: gksu is working for GTK libs; and (probably) not for KDE or any other.

[lucky9]

My understanding is that gksu/gksudo or kdesu/kdesudo should be used for GUI programs. non_GUI programs should be called from su/sudo.