Re: Drive Mount Applet only works as root?

[James Henstridge <james daa com au>]

There are many people who would not agree with you on some of these
points.  GNOME is not just for new users (or just for linux users for that
matter).

There will be many different types of users that use GNOME.  Not all of
them would appreciate something like this.  If someone is motivated to
write something like this, then go ahead.  To work correctly, it would
have to make more assumptions about the system (probably it would be
limited to linux systems) to be useful.  Personally this would be
stepping over the line that separates GNOME being a portable desktop
environment to an extension of one particular OS.

James.

--
Email: james@daa.com.au
WWW:   http://www.daa.com.au/~james/


On Wed, 21 Apr 1999, Pfaffenberger, Bryan wrote:

> Here's precisely the usability problem I've been pointing to. Naive users
> will not understand Linux's roots in multi-user systems; they won't
> understand why users should not have disk drive access by default. When
> they're told that they have to consult man pages and figure out how to
> configure fstab using a text editor, they'll conclude -- very quickly --
> that GNOME isn't doing enough to shield such users from the underlying
> complexity of Linux.
> 
> In a previous message, I suggested that, on first use, GNOME should start
> with a wizard that briefly explains the concepts of root user and user
> accounts, and guides the user through the process of setting up a user
> account for everyday use. Such a wizard could include an install option
> (selected by default) that enables users to configure the system as a
> single-user, non-networked system. This option could launch a script that,
> behind the scenes, rewrites fstab so that users are granted access to disk
> drives.
> 
> Bryan Pfaffenberger
> Univ. of Virginia
> 
> >     You need to specify the 'user' setting in /etc/fstab for each device
> you
> > wish a user to be able to mount. 'man mount' and 'man fstab' for more
> info.
> 
> > >Did I miss something obvious, or does the Drive Mount Applet only work
> > >if I run it as root? It should have at least some option for setting the
> > >command for mount, like "super mount" in my case, maybe some shell
> > >script, etc.
> 
> 
> 
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