<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 7:14 PM, Rick Stevens <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ricks@nerd.com">ricks@nerd.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">Roger wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
By default, it doesn't let you log in graphically as root. Do you<br>
really need to do that? It's, generally, a VERY BAD idea. The best<br>
solution is, usually, to log in as yourself, then "su -" in the command<br>
line to become root, and issue the commands you want. Or run the<br>
graphical tool that you want to use, through the menus, and type in the<br>
root password when prompted.<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
This is an interesting one.<br>
<br>
I, too, need to graphically log in as root to delete several old<br>
kernel and kmod directories quickly and easily as per discussions on my recent and continuing akmod problem. Doing it one file at a<br>
time in the numerous directories is laboroius and error prone.<br>
<br>
I can't use the GUI there is no login for handling files that I can find.<br>
</blockquote></blockquote>
<br></div>
As someone else said, logging into the desktop as root is a bad idea.<br>
A lot of the tools there are dangerous to use if you take the safeties<br>
off (as they are when you're root). For example, if you are root and<br>
you navigate to, oh, say "/" in Nautilus, "Select All", "Move to Trash"<br>
and click "Yes", bye-bye system. That can't happen if you're not root.<br>
<br>
If you must do things as root, the best idea is to log into the desktop<br>
as a regular, mortal user and open up a terminal window.<br>
<br>
In that window, enter "su -". At the password prompt, enter root's<br>
password. Now you're root in that terminal. Do whatever you want to<br>
do. Enter "exit" to stop being root, or simply close the terminal<br>
window.<br>
<br>
You can also simply press CTRL-ALT-F2 to switch to a regular console.<br>
Log in as root there and go do your thing. Press "ALT-F1" to return<br>
to the desktop. Yes, you have to do things on the command line, but<br>
hopefully you only need to do things as root very rarely.<br>
<br>
That's not too hard, is it?<br>
----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><font color="#888888">
- Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer <a href="mailto:ricks@nerd.com" target="_blank">ricks@nerd.com</a> -<br>
- AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 22643734 Yahoo: origrps2 -<br>
- -<br>
- Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward getting -<br>
- medicated for it. -- Jim Evarts (<a href="http://www.TopFive.com" target="_blank">http://www.TopFive.com</a>) -<br>
----------------------------------------------------------------------</font><div><div></div><br></div></blockquote></div><br>And, if you feel you need to run a GUI program like nautilus, you can simply call it from the command line as root.<br>
<br><br>