Root access removed

Ben Stringer ben at burbong.com
Tue May 11 08:06:29 UTC 2004


On Tue, 2004-05-11 at 16:23, Chadley Wilson wrote:


> End-users who are new to Linux easy irritated by passwd prompts,
> My one customer made a (I think valid ) comment: He said and I quote 
> "I should be given the option to choose whether or not I want a passwd
> protected system. Why do other people tell me what I need."

The simple answer to this is that for systems connected to the internet, 
if they become compromised, they can be used to spread more virus' and 
spam, so they affect the wider community, not just the owner. It is 
irresponsible to have a PC that is externally accessible poorly secured.
The case where the PC is not network-accessible is increasingly a special 
case, and a security choice made at installation time may lead to a 
compromise later on if the PC is connected to a network.

The reasons for not removing separation of privileges is well documented
and not specific to Fedora. I'd suggest researching past discussions on this
and other lists.

Cheers, Ben





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