Installing something without loggin gin as root
 

Hi, i am just beginning with linux and one of the things i would like to know is how to install something without loggin off as auser and then basck on as root.

One example. I just installed mozilla, worked fine. But when I need to install flash for instance, do I really have to log out and then back in to install it?

if you're installing from a command line then you can use the "su" command, then you just need to enter your root password and you can install.

No.
Just type
su -
and then the password of the super user (root) in the command line.
You will be logged in as root, are able to install something.
Then you can logout by typing
exit
And the software you installed will work :-)

Please don't forget the "-" otherwise you will be logged in as super user with the same values of environment variables from the normal user. This is inconsistent!

yeah, ok. thx for the tip. But what if I want to install a plugin to mozilla. It will automatically download and install it via the browser, but it can't install since it has no access. Then what would you do?

You could use the kdesu command to launch the browser as root. Or su to root, like mentioned in the previous message, and execute the mozilla browser from the command line (as root).

You may be able to also change the permissions of your user account so that it has the ability to allow that.

Mandrake has urpmi Pakage managment
Give it a try Go here http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php Follow instructions. Then to download & install rpms aopen terminal type su> root password>urpmi <pakage name> and should download & install

Regards Sharkee