"this incident will be reported"

newbiesforever · 08-09-2011, 09:40 PM

Every once in a while in a new installation of a distro, I will try to sudo something without having remembered to put myself in the sudoers list. When that happens, the system gives me an authoritarian response: "This incident will be reported." Because I own my computer and am the only user, this always amuses me a little. Naughty, naughty: I've been a bad little sudoer and will be reported to...myself, I guess. Single-user or not, Linux is meant for a network and it shows.

corp769 · 08-09-2011, 09:55 PM

You do know that message means that you are being report to sudo, right?

Honestly, I don't have to worry that message because I don't use sudo. I just manually su - in a terminal whenever I need to do administrative maintenance and/or actions on my system.

newbiesforever · 08-09-2011, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corp769

You do know that message means that you are being report to sudo, right?

Honestly, I don't have to worry that message because I don't use sudo. I just manually su - in a terminal whenever I need to do administrative maintenance and/or actions on my system.

Well, yeah, so do I (although I'm trying not to), but normally I wouldn't say so here. Admtiting that I often su - instead of sudoing is likely to get me some lectures on using root.

gnashley · 08-10-2011, 02:37 AM

I think the message actually comes from shadow. If you try to login as 'root' and give an incorrect password, shadow tries to send an email to /var/spool/mail to notify 'root' of the event.

XavierP · 08-10-2011, 03:25 AM

If you are the only user/admin then it makes no real difference whether you use su or sudo. Unless, like me, you occasionally forget to exit from su and run things as root too often. That was annoying.

corp769 · 08-10-2011, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XavierP

If you are the only user/admin then it makes no real difference whether you use su or sudo. Unless, like me, you occasionally forget to exit from su and run things as root too often. That was annoying.

I used to do that when I was new at linux....

MrCode · 08-10-2011, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XavierP

Unless, like me, you occasionally forget to exit from su and run things as root too often.

Three words: Color. Shell. Prompt.

Seriously, it helps when your root prompt is a bright, foreboding red as opposed to a friendly, inviting green (user prompt)…

MTK358 · 08-10-2011, 08:30 AM

I can't believe that no one posted this yet

:

https://www.xkcd.com/838/

corp769 · 08-10-2011, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTK358

I can't believe that no one posted this yet

:

https://www.xkcd.com/838/

LOL!

phil.d.g · 08-11-2011, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corp769

I used to do that when I was new at linux....

a $ for normal users and a # for root works just as well too, and is even the default behaviour for bash

corp769 · 08-11-2011, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phil.d.g

a $ for normal users and a # for root works just as well too, and is even the default behaviour for bash

Very true, but sometimes I don't even pay attention to it

newbiesforever · 08-11-2011, 12:35 PM

I'm not sure everyone noticed my point, which was only that "this incident will be reported" sounds funny when one is the only user. It just occurred to me that it sounds vaguely similar to an error message I used to see in Windows 3.11 when I used it long ago: "This application has violated system integrity blah blah blah and will be terminated [italics mine]." Hasta la vista, baby.

MrCode · 08-11-2011, 02:19 PM

Quote:

It just occurred to me that it sounds vaguely similar to an error message I used to see in Windows 3.11 when I used it long ago: "This application has violated system integrity blah blah blah and will be terminated [italics mine]." Hasta la vista, baby.

…or possibly the (in)famous Windows 95/98 segfault/system error message: "<program>.exe has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down".

Oh, no! The cops are coming to lock me up!

newbiesforever · 08-11-2011, 02:25 PM

Ha, ha...that's like the old joke that one will be arrested for tearing the tag off a pillow or mattress because they say "do not remove under the penalty of law."

sundialsvcs · 08-11-2011, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newbiesforever

Ha, ha...that's like the old joke that one will be arrested for tearing the tag off a pillow or mattress because they say "do not remove under the penalty of law."

Obviously you didn't hear about that poor sucker in Montana ...

And, I mean, it wasn't like the poor bloke didn't get what was coming to 'im. The charred remnants of the label were right there, still lodged in his cold, dead fingertips...