Re: Root window desktop

[Tom Gilbert <gilbertt tomgilbert freeserve co uk>]

* drarn (drarn@toward.com) [990809 18:19]:
> Even newbie such as myself can open a terminal window to
> mount stuff as root. I found absolutely no HOWTO's or anything
> else giving information *specific* to ls-120 disks and their
> mounting or formatting, but I had no trouble doing it all kinds
> of ways. This is an *advantage* over the drive letter crowd.
> 
> If it doesn't break linux to open a *terminal* in a window and su
> it, why can I not give password and open a *root desktop* in a
> window instead, complete with session management, icons, (default
> all home directories as icons there, not just "the" home
> directory, and open 2, to make it easier to give permissions to
> oneself) panels, bars, quick & easily configured mountumount
> shortcuts of whatever nature, the whole thing? Would this not
> provide more convenience and yet not break the superior security
> of linux? Would this not be a lot better than messing around with
> wrappers and having to boot gnome a l__o__n__g  time if I fail to
> delete Mr. ICE's authority all the time? Would it not be better
> for the *user* to make decisions about who should be able to
> mount what, rather than the distributor, and should it not the
> GUI make it easier for him to do so? And having opened a root
> desktop, could it not be minimized? Would it not be better to
> shut down
> from there? It seems to me that one would have the advantages of
> all and the disadvantages of none. 
> 

IMO, the less stuff you run as root, the better, as running as root is
a system safety and security risk, easily avoidable by proper setup.
You should only need to su to root to install software, and why do you
need a graphical environment to do that in?

If you have troubles with "Mr ICE", etc, then your system is not
properly configured.

Tom.
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