Torvalds:requiring root password for mundane things is moronic

[Nikos Roussos]

Here is a weird example of how Fedora currenty handles some permission
procedures. I created a standard user account (no admin rights) and I'm
trying to install a package. When I press apply I'm prompted to enter a
password. Since I have no admin rights I would expect to be asked for the
root password. Instead of that I'm asked to enter a password of another
user who happens to be in the administrative group!

See the screenshot as a proof:
http://s.autoverse.net/yYi6AF
See on the top right corner that I'm logged in with another account.

So in the UX level we have actually disabled the root account (I can
remember when was the last time I was prompted to enter it) thus we keep
asking for a root password during installation that's ends up confusing
people about its purpose.


PS. an interesting question: if I had two users on my system belonging to
the administrative group. which one's password I'll be prompted to enter
when I'm logged with a standard user account, like the example above.
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