Re: Root Permissions

["James M. Cape" <jcape jcinteractive com>]

"Jesse D . Sightler" wrote:
> 
> Ever heard the word... Security?  :)  Somehow I suspect that this would
> be very difficult to do in a fully secure manner.

Especially since adding the user to the "disk" group solves all the
problems mentioned.

I personally don't like the idea of a root session running constantly.
In addition, what if said applet crashes? Does it crash the box? Or
worse, does it leave the session open? All these are problems which the
unix developers of lore fixed long ago. I would like apps which need
root permissions to ask for them/prompt for them, but keeping a root
session running or keeping the root password unencrypted in memory or a
temp file doesn't seem like a good idea.

> On Fri, 12 Mar 1999 18:03:27 Fox, Kevin M wrote:
> > how about a root applet. When the applet is started, it asks you for the
> > root password. Then whatever you drag onto the applet gets run as root...
> > (and since it already has the root password, it dosnt have to prompt you
> > each time)
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From:       Michael L. Shire [SMTP:shire@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU]
> > > Sent:       Friday, March 12, 1999 2:59 PM
> > > To: Adrian Hosey
> > > Subject:    Re: Root Permissions
> > >
> > > Adrian Hosey wrote:
> > > >
> > > > : So, running GNOME with a non-root user is hard, and need certain =
> > > > : adjustment...And running from ROOT is not safe, as all us known. I
> > > found =
> > > > : some major problems:
> > > >
> > > > A while back someone suggested a "root launcher" icon - you could drag
> > > > an icon to it, or type in a command, and it would throw up a dialog
> > > > asking for the root password and then run the app as root. I thought
> > > > that was a neat idea, but no one's written it yet.
> > >
> > > IMHO, i don't like the idea of having to constantly type my password in
> > > to do things like mounting, playing cd's, accessing drives, etc.  i've
> > > found work arounds involving suid and fstab for some of the basics.  but
> > > i hope there is an easier way to configure general access to services,
> > > particularly for home machines like  mine where i'm the only user
> > > anyways.
> > >
> > > mike!
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> >
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> 
> ---------------
> Jesse D. Sightler
> http://www3.pair.com/jsight/
> 
> "An honest answer can get you into a lot of trouble."
>          - Anonymou
> 
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-- 
    Jim Cape
    http://www.jcinteractive.com

    "All animals are equal, some animals
     are more equal than others."
         -- George Orwell, Animal Farm