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