When I logged onto this site just now, at the top of the main page displayed the message "Welcome to Linux Questions - a
friendly and active community", and that is what I hope to be true, because there is something decidedly UNfriendly about
the policies at the official Ubuntu forum. Without any warning whatsoever, I got slapped with an "infraction" for posting a certain how-to which was tantamount to what I believed to be some questions which were more than valid. It told me two things about such people, who may be Ubuntu developers as well:
1. they have a policy of repressing certain information on the workings of their system, and
2. there are some questions which they will deal with in this way so that they won't have to answer them.
My questions for the community of this forum, and for the moderators her are:
1. Is it your policy to repress certain technical how-tos which do not necessarily cover any illegal or unethical activity, or do you leave that for the users on this forum to decide what to do with the information disseminated here?
and
2. Do you believe that my questions below, testy as they may be in tone, are valid questions deserving an answer?
I don't want to raise any hackles here, so I removed the link to that controversial how-to from the text of my original post below:
Quote:
You have an infraction at Ubuntu Forums
Reason: Log in as root tutorial
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It's against the forum rules to post instructions to log in as root:
(link removed)
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This infraction is worth 1 point(s) and may result in restricted access until it expires. Serious infractions will never expire.
Original Post:
[sorry, had to remove]
Quote:
Ubuntu (system) policy is to inhibit anyone from logging in as root, leaving root tasks to the use of sudo. Sudo isn't so useful if you like to browse your files on secondary partitions with the GUI, like Nautilus. This link (sorry, but it looks like some would complain if I posted it) shows how to make Nautilus every bit as useful for browsing other partitions as it is for files on your root partition, but the issue which was raised in the comments is that it logs you in, permanently, as the root, and that's so baaaaaaad (I could just see the wool flying through the air as the heads shook). Alright, guess you would be right to call one who's been using Linux for less than six months arrogant to comment like this, but I and many more frustrated new users need to understand that those who advocate any security devices and restrictions have a realistic understanding of their impact on system security, and the (actual) trade-offs they cause for system usability. While most of the answers we get ring more of superstition than anything else, we have already learned that the most useful system is never, ever the most secure, and I wouldn't mind knowing why my secondary partitions have higher security clearance than some parts of my system partition!
I decided to try the above fix (editing the gdm.comf file) just to see if it works, and it did. I'm not dense, I was a little concerned that I need not be logged in as root after making my transactions with other partitions, so I went to set bact the "AllowRoot=" command to "false". Even though I was already logged in as root, the system refused to save my changes! I had not used sudo when I opened the file for editing, thinking that I wouldn't need to, but as it turns out you do need to use sudo to make certain changes, whether you are logged in as the user or the root. Therefore, what differences for security does it really make whether you are logged in as the user or the root? Conversely, how does the sudo sytem really make a system any more secure (when everybody knows the word "sudo", who is it really locking out)?
Thanks for your input.
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All the best,
Ubuntu Forums [/QUOTE]
Oh, and since I'm being open about this, the mod in question should be as well: aysiu
HP Mini 1120nr User
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: US
My beans are hidden!
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
Thanks for your consideration of this issue, and any which it can raise.
