It's funny you mention this when the thread title is "So, there is PulseAudio... How about to begin investigating adding LinuxPAM to Slackware too?"

Someone (Darth Vader) was hoping the "consequence" of adding pulseaudio would be to add PAM to the system...

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How about the KDE's User Authorization going nuts since Ice Age, from the lack of PAM?

For example, try to Adjust Date and Time, even into latest slackware-current. What happen? Screenshot attached.

Sure, from a Hobby perspective, or someone who use his Linux to watch movies into family, I "troll" there again.

BUT, just imagine that you have on administration hundreds of computers, i.e. in a School, and their users starts in the same day to ask about that error, while you try to explain to Management, who usually think that "there is a problem, you'll have to fix it", that you can't fix it, because it come from the distribution Design.

In that day you will suddenly understand that "that error" sucks hundred times more than the lack of bluetooth...

PS. The screenshot was executed from root account, supposed to be Master of The System, all rights included.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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you mean, mention PAM to Slackware users leads to regression => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regres...8psychology%29
I can not say that you are that wrong :-)

Well, all I can say is I've never had any problems with KDE as a result of not having PAM. When I try to adjust the date/time from my non-privileged account, I get prompted for root's password. Expected behavior.



This is on -current. But I can't recall ever having had the problem you describe. What makes you sure it's because of no PAM?

Dave

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Because I have the possibility to compare how work the (pure) Slackware with a very similar, but PAMified, Slackware build, who differ only as having everything built with the Magic Four Packages present. In the past, there was also difference of ARCH. Now they being similar too, as i586.

BTW, you tried to save the modifications?

To note that, in the last years, I tested and "that error" do not appear into OpenSUSE, Kubuntu, (pure) Ubuntu with KDE installed from repository, Pardus, Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, Gentoo and even in a PAMified Slackware. It is specific to (pure) Slackware.

Yup, I saved the modifications. Both from non-root and root accounts. It all Just Works™. Anyway, I'm sorry your experience is not the same.

Dave

Just use NTP, either as a standalone client, or in a LAN, you can setup one of the servers to act as NTP client as well as server for the LAN. Frankly, this takes a couple minutes to setup. Here's some template files:

http://www.microlinux.fr/microlinux/template/ntp/

A user doesn't have to worry about his or her machine's time configuration. If this happens, then something is very wrong.

Cheers,

Niki

Thanks, Kiki, but as you suppose, I know about NTP.

Still, there is a big clock, bottom-right, and the typically, your user is very curious and proud to customize its desktop, you known...

Do your users also define a custom IP address, hostname and CPU frequency?

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haven't you given up KDE for MLED because it had to much configuration the user could/wants to change?
Interesting how you turn with the wind just to make some funny comments.

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Usually not, probably being afraid of consequences.

But, if you want to talk about only Administrator shall have the root access, I would like to say, probably nothing new for, that sine-die, for a User who have a physical access to computer, Slackware have no bigger protection, on escalating the access rights, than old-plain MS-DOS.

Just because the things are preserved into some precise /etc text files and no AD is available.

I do not know how is in France, but in Romania, Italy and Germany, if you give a Slackware computer to a 7 years old, he figure in max. one month how to gain the root access. My nephews are included in that category. One have 6, and now is interested to remote exploit the computer of his brother.

You known, the root account is for honest people, if you give them physically those computers.

BTW, some well known methods to gain the root access:

In Lilo prompt: Linux init /bin/sh
No Lilo prompt? Boot from a Live System, mount the root partition and replace the required files with some prepared ones.

Wait a second!

You suggest that the shadow authentication imply a spectacular security issue, on Enterprises case?

Not directly. It is about a self-contained operating system, who defines its authentication into text files, which access rights can be bypassed easily.

Even with encrypted partitions, you have ability to unlock the root partition? The root access is guaranteed for you.

To understand that AD wasn't invented just for fun.

Has nothing to do with Slackware or even PAM. It is a bug in KDE: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=241817
And they fixed it only for systemd users.

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Just password-protect your BIOS and your bootloader if your average user is an evil script kiddie.

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