Re: shutdown prompt question

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

Sean Middleditch <sean.middleditch@iname.com> writes: 
> Yes, root password or user password, or the password of any other user, I believe.
>  I'm not too sure on it's specifics.
> 

I'm pretty sure it doesn't take whatever you typed and scan the whole
password database and accept any matches. :-) It could, I guess, but I
tend to doubt it. A pretty good hacking tool if it does... 
 
> The actual  commands have root privaledges, I believe.  

No they don't :-)

> I have been able to run
> them as a normal user.  If they aren't, you can always chmod 4777 on the halt and
> reboot executables (or the shutdown executable, since all halt and reboot do is
> call that program).
> 

chmod 4777 is a fairly bad idea, I would say, if your machine so much
as looks sideways at the internet. :-) 

Anyway everyone can already execute the commands, but you need to be
root for that execution to do anything. That is what PAM does for you.
You could also use sudo or the like.

Havoc