Oh' lordy. Ubuntu is a dark horse.

My environment is Windows 7==>Oracle Virtual Box==>Ubuntu 32 bit.

Yesterday I tried to install gfortran which went smoothly according to the Terminal but in the end I cannot find the software in my Ubuntu. Along the way it claimed to have installed qmail. I don't really know much about it and why I need it except for this Wikipedia article.

Now, after the installation I found a strange thing in my Ubuntu.

If you look at the Ubuntu desktop in the right upper corner there is my first name: Alex and if I click on it a long column of "accounts" shows up. They are: If I click on any of these accounts I get them displayed on the left of the desktop in a column with the one I clicked on asking for the password. My PW for Ubuntu to sign in does not work on any of them.

On the right (in the column of all those accounts) if I click on the lowest massage: User Accounts I get another (white) window with all accounts listed and they are marked "standard" and "disabled."

What is it all about?

Thanks, - Alex

Many applications create their own users when installed, this allows the files for the application to be "owned" by a particular "user" and not accessible to other users. These will show up as standard or disabled because there will not usually be a shell or usable login for that "user".

Personally I like to think of the "users" list in Linux as an "accounts" list, that way there's the idea of of these as "system accounts" or "context accounts" rather than "user accounts".

[Edit:]The way Linux "services" work is that they'll be started as root, and then detach and run as their respective "user", if you look in your process list you'll see them running with their own "username".

1 members found this post helpful.

TenTenth, thank you. Makes sense.