Hello, everyone!

It is very well known that running VLC as root in KDE is easy: in the menu editor, in the Advanced tab, you check "Run as a different user", giving the name of the user in your system. Then VLC runs from root, playing everything placed inside the user's folders and everything placed in other hard disks (not root's disk though).
So far, so good.

Is there a possibility to run VLC as root in Gnome? I mean, without compiling the program myself with the option --enable-run-as-root. Is there any immediate method like in KDE?

Thank you!

Doing a quick search for 'VLC as root' turns up quite a lot of frustration. In short, you *do* have to compile VLC yourself, to get it to run as root in GNOME.

That said, there are only two work-arounds. The first, is to change the permissions in your directories that have media to your user's group, enabling just your normal user account to access it (i.e. with 'read' or 'read/write' access.) Optionally, you could switch it to allow 'everyone' to read from them.

If (like me) you often run your system in 'root' the solution is to use 'vlc-wrapper' Running will launch VLC with the same permissions as User ID 1000 (in my system, that's the first user I created when I installed Ubuntu; you can do a 'sudo cat /etc/passwd' to determine which user IDs belong to who.) This will allow execution of VLC in the root account, though you'll still need to make sure your media is accessible to whichever user you're making use of.

Sorry for the bad news.

These news are not really so bad...

Thanks!

you can BUT WHY
running Gnome as root is A very very bad idea
DO NOT LOGIN AS ROOT !!!

there are very good security reasons that Gnome has made the root login hard to do
yes you can but DO NOT PLAY A MOVIE AS ROOT !!!!!!!!!

@ JOHN VV: why do you recommend that vlc or for that matter, a video should not be viewed as a root?

Why would you need to be root to play a video? That doesn't make any sense.

Nor does it ever make sense to run most GUI apps as root.

The few exceptions would be a text editor to edit a config, and running apps like rkhunter, chkrootkit, Bastille or other firewall GUIs, AV like klamav, Synaptic/Update Manager/Software Sources. There aren't that many other things that require running as root. And none of them require you to run Gnome/kde/xfce etc as root.

Linux Security Administrator's Guide: Host Security Safely Running Programs as root | Linux Journal
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2114

[SOLVED] GUI as root or not and why?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...nd-why-788205/

Superuser Root System Administrator and Superuser in Linux
http://ezinearticles.com/?Superuser-...nux&id=2402909

The Linux System Administrator's Guide
http://tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/index.html

http://www.cybercon.org/Security/Doc...AdminGuide.pdf

LINUX: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition
http://linux.2038bug.com/rute-home.html

Hopefully you get the idea, never run any apps as root unless you must.

This could quickly and easily turn into the "don't work as root, it's EVIL" vs "it's my system, you're not my dad!" conversation.

There are lots of reasons someone might want to run their system as root, and lots of risks you take when you do. My guess is that the user in question has multiple user accounts with videos sitting in an SMB directory that's owned by several different people. Root is the only user who could (by default) browse a properly protected SMB directory in that case. A more elegant solution would be to set up more effective read/write permissions, but if it's a home file server with only two or three family members making use of it, running as root would seem to be a quick and effective solution. Different administrators have different needs; I'm the only user on all of my home 'nix boxes, so I work as root about %80 of the time. Being told I 'shouldn't' need to ask a question doesn't come close to addressing the questions posed.

Stephannn :
then one would use su , su -, or set up sudo
there IS NO NEED to login to a Gnome as root in order to run vlc


anugraha.sinha:
that is not what i said . one can always do what ever they want
but i do not recommend running Gnome and vlc IN GNOME as root

@John,

I think of things like "drinking a fifth of vodka, then hopping on a snowmobile" as something that falls under the category of a "very very bad idea." I think of running Gnome (or VLC, or any other application I like) as root to fall under something akin to "if you're comfy with the chance that you'll wreck your system." It's always been infuriating for me, when I was trying to find information on how to do X, Y, or Z as root, and thread after thread of answers to similar questions is a long list of "you shouldn't, you moron." If I'm willing to pay the price for doing something in a manner others don't agree with, isn't that my business?

If the system gets compromised because you work as root, you are hurting other systems and users.


Kind regards

@repo,

Care to illustrate how working as root on a home system = a compromised system? Especially in the context of how often a linux box is compromised (specifically working as root) compared to the bajillions of Windows boxes that are compromised?

The kneejerk reaction against working as root is the point of comments. I agree, it's poor security policy to work as root. It doesn't make sense to fear using root in situations where I, as the systems administrator, deem it appropriate and necessary. Other administrators might not agree with the choice, as is entirely their right, but I've long ago decided I won't walk a mile out of my way to avoid hopping over a puddle.

The system can be compromised, and if compromised while running as root, the consequences are bigger.

Kind regards

NOT running a desktop gui as root is one of the reasons that there are so few !
yes a case can be made for doing this once in a while ( fixing a busted OS, for one ) but there is no good , or bad , reason to run it as root all the time

in fact some things WILL NOT WORK in Gnome if you use the root hack .
Software updates is one .Most distros with gnome will not authenticate root if you are logged in as root

Until recently, I had almost always run my desktops as root, as the integration of elevation to root privileges simply hadn't been effectively implemented. It's only been in the past couple years that switching to root to perform various administrative tasks has become relatively painless.