This is crazy. I worked so hard to get this Linux system on here to start superceding Windows, and... well, let's put it this way... Currently, I'm working on the Update System app and when I click "View History" I get this preachy b.s.:

"Log Viewer is running as a privileged user
Running graphical applications as a privileged user should be avoided for security reasons. PackageKit applications are security sensitive and therefore this application will now close."

Aw, come ON. What ever happened to, "This is not advised. blah blah preach preach blah blah. Click OK to continue or Cancel to stop"? Why can't I choose?

If I wanted someone to dictate to me how I run my system, I'd have gone on to install Windows Vista.

Yes, I know there's a taboo against running a system as root, much less graphical applications in X, you can save me the novel-sized lecture on this, I totally understand. But the fact is, I'm a 30something adult with kids that I'm raising quite well, thank you. I'm not a baby whose hand needs to be held. The whole reason I install Linux is to have total control of my system. With that comes total responsibility. I screw up and blow something up, it's on me.

Now why am I using Linux? I'm starting to get the same heavy handed controls slapped on me that is making me desperate to get away from Windows.

I want my control back.

Slackware!

I'm downloading 12.1 right now.

I tend to avoid slackware because I want the bells and whistles and I love RPM/Yum package installations, but I was born and raised on slack back when you used floppies to install it.

Whose idea was it to Redmond-ize Fedora anyway???

I'm not trying to start a flame war here Raveolution, but why do you run your X session as root?

I see no practical reason to do so. When running as an unprivileged user, the system will ask for your root password if you try to change system settings, or add/remove packages.

Raveolution you will not be disappointed. I tried Slackware first and although I tried many distros after that, they pretty much all made me sick. There's nothing like having only what you want and nothing else. pkgtool is all you really need and you manage dependencies yourself. You can build packages from source with checkinstall, makepkg or other tools, plus Slackware has the best user community, and it's right here on LQ.

Welcome to the best Linux distro!

x_terminat_or_3 I agree it's bad to run as root. But Linux is about freedom. Freedom to shoot yourself in the foot and trash your system if you want

Have a look at Arch.
Mandatory control (SELinux in Fedora) has lots going for it - when it works. Can be a bitch when it doesn't - especially in a home/development environment. I wonder how many (others) wind up turning it off completely.

I do, one of the first things I turn off, along with rhgb

It would also be nice to "remember" the password, even if you still have to click a button to activate it. If you have several rpm packages to install, it gets annoying typing the password every time.

I just had to do it 6 times in a row to get some codecs for Divx etc and even then it didn't work, I still can't play Divx files.

Raevolution, you don't have any heavy handed controls slapped on you, you have the source, you can remove that check whenever you want, though if you don't do programming switching distros is probably easier.

It *does* remember the password for a while in Fedora. It uses PAM and has caching enabled.

I am called many things, and lazy is one of the things that always come back, funny enough, I don't mind typing in my password over and over again, go figure.

[QUOTE=x_terminat_or_3;3343015]I'm not trying to start a flame war here Raveolution, but why do you run your X session as root?

-I can't speak for everyone, but the reason that I like to do it is when I am trying something new or experimenting, I do not want to be restricted at any time for any reason. I do not want to find out that the reason my script did not execute or something did not run, is because I am not running as a privileged user. Once I get the project running and get out all of the major wrinkles then I perfect it in the environment that I will be using it.

[QUOTE=EzusChrist;3347646]Yup, well said. Thing is I spend a lot more time as NOT root in that distro than I did as root.

So the culprit is SELinux and rhgb, eh?

I don't think Arch ever holds my hand on anything.

I do think some display managers (eg GDM, KDM, XDM) will--by default--deny root login to X-Windows, but that's easy to change.

You can install and configure Linux to give you ZERO protection---Your choice.

Right now I'm just kicking the tires on different distros, trying to see what works best with my mission imperatives (games, dvd ripping and other heavy duty transcoding, etc.).

If it bombs out my system I can always reinstall. When I'm really seriously dug in and done installing the virtual drapes, though, I'll almost never use root again.

Raveolution as someone else has said .There is almost NO reason to login as ROOT .
reinstalling and copying form a backup is a good exception ,best done as root .but there is no need to login as root to do that
just start a terminal session as root and start a new instance of your desktop manager
fedora/Gnomeup and running as root with a gui and still logged in as user