Re: A bridge too far ...

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Fri, 2008-02-15 at 12:06 -0800, Clark Dunson wrote:
> And Gnome overrides su/root?!?  Whathehellis this dialog box?!?:
> 
> 
> "You are not allowed to access the system configuration"
> 
> 
> That is really bogus.  I'm root!!!

Actually, unless you've heavily customized Ubuntu, you're not.
Neither is anybody else.  Ubuntu uses sudo, which allows normal
users to escalate their privileges without actually becoming
root.  When prompted for a password for sudo, you do not type
a root password; you type your own password.  This prevents
malicious scripts from simply assuming privileges without your
authorization.

This is not a Gnome thing.  It's an Ubuntu thing.  And for that
matter, Ubuntu did not invent sudo.  It's been around since the
1980s.  Gnome is, however, moving towards PolicyKit, which is
like sudo in that it grants authorization for particular tasks,
instead of just handing out root.  PolicyKit is more well-suited
for graphical applications, though, as it allows applications to
perform backend operations with privileges without the graphical
application itself having those privileges.

If this is too un-UNIX for you, well, sorry.  But it's a better
system in pretty much every way imaginable.

--
Shaun