And to run around screaming "I want a stable GUI" instead
of embracing the sensible tradition of NOT using a GUI for
root tasks is (refusing to learn from a mistake but claiming the
fault is with the tool, and not with your choice of tool) .... ?

Once again: running ANY GUI as root is bad practice.
And to demand that a GUI work around that by screaming
at you in dangerous situations is outrageously stupid :)



Cheers,
Tink

Really? Silly me. I guess you're right. Software shouldn't do error and boundry checking. It should just run around and clobber what-ever it wants.

Great idea - you should get a job at MicroSoft.

Hey now, no insults here! :)

You are the one who wants to use a GUI, you go work
for micro$leuth ...

And what you are saying is like: "I want a hammer that refuses
to hit a screw!" instead of using a screwdriver on it in the first
place ...


Cheers,
Tink

NO - I am the one saying this is standard SW design - error and boundry checking. You are the one saying don't be a cry baby - only a wimp uses a GUI.

My argument is based on pure logic and development standards. Your argument is based on your feelings about GUI's.

Hey, I said I am all for not allowing GUI in root - BUT if you can log into root with the GUI, then the GUI needs to behave properly.

You are saying - don't do a boundry check on an important function - that is YOUR argument. Because only a wimp needs that boundry checked - well whatever that is insane and if its not MicroSoft type thinking, I have never heard any.

Uh-huh. And you'd be suing general electric because
your cat didn't survive being dried in a microwave oven, and
it didn't say on the door that cats shouldn't be microwaved,
and because GE failed to build in a mechanism in the microwave
that stops it from starting up when there's motion in it.

That's is not lack of good engineering practice in the manufacturer,
that's only lack of common sense in the user.



Cheers,
Tink

You are out of your element.

Heh. Are these going to be your famous last words in
this thread?


Cheers,
Tink

Since you are so fired up about this issue why don't you get the code for gnome and kde and insert the necessary code for boundary checking. It is after all open source. That way you won't have a problem anymore and you can submit the modified code to gnome and kde for inclusion in the next release. This is what oss is all about after all.

Hi everybody,

I don't think this should be related with root using GUI or not. If a similar problem existed in a CLI tool, would it mean that roots shouldn't use CLI, either?

It is true that root has to be VERY careful, as it is true that the biggest Linux market is in the servers. While the first will probably never change, Linux is gaining space in desktops: The only reason to restrict roots to CLI is historical. We like to say that "Linux is freedom". I would like the freedom of browsing, even as a root, because this would help people that is starting with the system to get familiar with the directory structure, and so on.

I would like Gnome to prevent this kind of problems, yet I don't blame GNU/Linux (the kernel, CLI apps and many Open Software) to be buggy because it hasn't being taken into account so far.

Regards...

I would like to tell a little story and perhaps you may see yourself and greater societal conventions in it;

Once upon a time there was a 3 year old boy called John. Now John like any 3 year old was very curious about his environment and loved to explore it and try things out. John saw his mother using the electric stove every day and was very curious about it. While his mother wasn't looking he put his hand on one of the hot plates that she had just been using and burnt his hand. His mother was concerned and consoled him as best she could. She had told him many times not to go near the stove. His mother told him that now he had probably learnt his lesson and would not do it again. John being a very bright and considerate little boy felt that this wasn't really enough and felt that there was much more that could be done to prevent other little children from also hurting themselves. He demanded that his mother write to their member of Congress and demand that he get law passed that required all manufacturers who made appliances that could harm small children to have special zone detectors that would detect children in close proximity to them and issue them with verbal warnings to stay away. After all they had the technology why couldn't they apply it.

So what it are the lessons we can learn from this story. Almost every child learns the hard way about doing something that he has been told not to do. Some learn in a tragic way by losing their lives. It has been so since life began. Because something could be harmful in a given situation (probably never dreamt of by the manufacturer) do we now have to ensure that this never happens to someone else. This is one of the sad parts of modern society. Everyone wants to apportion blame on someone else and also make someone else compensate them for it. By the very nature of this strange behaviour many items are becoming so expensive that they are almost out of the reach of most people.

Either you are not paying any attention or you are being obstenant.

Infinite loop = bad. No excuse.