Running anything as super user so casually is just bad... all those years of Windows defaulting the first user as an administrator...

Even on these forums every now and then some smartass declares "it is my computer, I do what I want". Well, that's the thing, run it as root and it won't be yours any more.

This guy is not joking!

If you run as root, remember that it is easy to completely destroy everything so there is no useful or recoverable data available. Then you have no choice but to reinstall. Of course most people who have the attitude that 'it is their computer . . .' or that using sudo is too much trouble also do not bother with backups. But, it is your computer, you can do what you wish. Just remember, there are only two groups of people: those who have and those who will. That is a promise.

good, we need more posts like this, where opinion (don't be root) becomes fact.
the relevant bit is here i think: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-...a55a7d#8044600

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Anyone who is prone to listen to advice like this...
...deserves what is coming to them in the long run.

btw, i've seen this before and whether that guy is serious or not, don't gratify him with clicks. i did, again. my bad.

Yawnnn ....

Several times a day I need to do things that require root. No, don't even start - the kernel enforces this for what I need to do.
And no, sudo doesn't cut it.

Sometimes you just need to do what you need to do - despite all the platitudes.

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^ granted, the thread title is less than descriptive and very likely to start a looong rant once again - but did you even look at the forum posts in post #1?

@ondaho
First, not to run the computer as root is not an opinion. It is more than that, it is a golden rule of *nix.
@syg00
Second, this is not about logging in as root for system management.

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Why are you people who disapprove of running as root so adamant that other people cannot have a root account? I am one of the smartasses that insist on having a root account available on my computers. So every time I install a new distribution which does not provide for root accounts I have to change enough control files to set up a root account that I can log into in addition to my various user accounts. It was totally unnecessary for the distributions to remove the ability to create a root account from their installers.

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Steve Stites

This will effectively log you into root, even if the account has login disabled. What else do you need?

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if one was never suppose to be "root" user then they'd have never invented it in the first place.

Therefore it has its place within the OS so yeah why not use it?

Ubuntutututu don't root so phah to Ubuntutututu MO of course.

I actually logged in as root for a week using it as a reg user just to test that theory that is out there (in here too) it is Bad to use root. and I never not one time ran into problems.

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This logic is not really acceptable. Root is a special user with special rights. You are allowed to be root on your own system but that does not mean you must use that.
You need to think about it as a tool. You will use it only if you need that tool to solve something. You won't use that tool just for fun.

that is your option.

this logic is not out of wack. Read it again then think about it really hard. what is is actually saying?
come on think about it, read it again not read into it.


here let me help you read a sentence of what is says not what you think it says. it simply states that

root account was invented for a reason, then you got a ask yourself "what is the reason it was invented?" not give yourself an answer before asking that question.

now answer that question.
that validates my logical statement


if one was never suppose to be "root" user then they'd have never invented it in the first place.

That is only a small part of what I need.

I would like to see the installer offer to create a root account, a superuser account, and from zero to many ordinary user accounts. The installer will check to make sure that you have either a root account or a superuser account or both. The installer will check to make sure you have a superuser account or at least one ordinary user account or both.

I do this every time I install a Linux system. When the installers started creating superuser accounts for me I considered that a good idea. When the installers started not configuring a root account that became a great inconvenience. At one time one of the installers (I forget which one) would install a root account and many user accounts. Most installers have regressed since then.

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Steve Stites