KUser and Groups (wheel etc)

Steve900 · 10-24-2010, 03:04 PM

I want to go to 13.1 but I have never managed to figure out the importance of the wheel, adm and users and other groups in KUser. I suspect that it is important but the standard explanations stop short of KUser as though no one wants to understand what it does and how it affects the way the PC and Slack work?

udaman · 10-24-2010, 03:50 PM

What are you currently using in v12 to manage users and groups? Are you using KDE 3.x as a desktop? Kuser is just a frontend to managing users and groups in KDE 4x. You could still use CLI

Code:

vipw
vigr

, if you needed to. User and group management is handled by the OS, not the desktop.

Steve900 · 10-25-2010, 01:46 AM

I needed a wifi (and a 3G capability - do you use the same expression in the USA?) and I have been using Ubuntu for a year or so but I understand that 13.1 includes wicd and that this should allow me to connect via wifi. So I will (I am testing 13.0 right now and I will be doing a full 13.1 installation in a day or two) be back to using Slack. But what you are saying is still not an explanation of what KUser does wrt to the groups? Or maybe it is not important at all?

udaman · 10-25-2010, 07:47 AM

[QUOTE=Steve900;4138255 Or maybe it is not important at all?[/QUOTE]

Yes, Kuser is not important. As I said before, it's a GUI frontend to the systems user management.

Here's a link to understand how to manage users and groups in any distro of Linux.

http://www.slackbook.org/html/essent...-USERS-SCRIPTS

Read section 12.1 and 12.2. Good luck

AlvaroG · 10-25-2010, 08:39 AM

http://refspecs.freestandards.org/LS...usernames.html :-)

KUser touches /etc/password, /etc/groups and (I think) /etc/shadow as required.
Slackware includes WICD but NetworkManager is available from slackbuilds.org

Regards.

Steve900 · 04-03-2011, 01:07 AM

I still have got to the bottom this. Have re-installed Slack 13.1 after PC failure but I cannot find any info on the use of the groups - wheel, sys etc. Does one affect getting a usb memory stick to mount?

Steve900 · 04-03-2011, 01:10 AM

Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.30" (uid=1000 pid=3671 comm="exo-mount) interface="org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume" member="Mount" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination="org.freedesktop.Hal" (uid=0 pid=1520 comm="/usr/sbin/hald)).

This is what I get when I try to use the file manager to go the usb mem stick.

Richard Cranium · 04-03-2011, 01:24 AM

Being a member of the wheel group allows you to run any command via "sudo", but only if you uncomment the appropriate line(s) in /etc/sudoers.

You very probably want to be a member of the plugdev, power, video, audio, and cdrom groups. From the file Slackware-HOWTO (http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub...ckware-HOWTO):

Code:

To make an account for yourself, use the 'adduser' program.  To start it,
type 'adduser' at a prompt and follow the instructions.  Going with the
default selections for user ID, group ID, and shell should be just fine
for most users.  You'll want to add your user to the cdrom, audio, video
plugdev (plugable devices like USB cameras and flash memory) and scanner
groups if you have a computer with multimedia peripherals and want to be
able to access these.

tommcd · 04-03-2011, 03:30 AM

To see what groups you are a member of, simply type the command groups in the terminal as a normal user.
If you need to add yourself to any of the above mentioned groups use the gpasswd command as root:

Code:

# gpasswd -a user group

Relpace user with your user name; and replace group with the group name that you are adding yourself to.

Steve900 · 04-04-2011, 04:02 PM

That works, that is to say the plugdev to get the usb mem stick working. But the entry from tommcd puzzles me. When I go to KUser the groups are things like plugdev?

Woodsman · 04-04-2011, 06:37 PM

You're correct. You probably won't find a convenient list of all the groups most distros use and explaining for what those groups are intended. Probably would be a nice idea to see such a list. New users more or less learn the commonly used groups through daily usage, reading, and asking questions.

Many 'nix sys admins prefer to use the command line for common admin tasks, such as modifying a user's group account associations. Yet for many home users, or part-time admin users, something like KUser is convenient. A great little tool and easy to use.

KUser has two primary tabs: one for Users and one for Groups. If you select the Groups tab, then when you select the plugdev group (double-click or press Enter) you will see a list of all users who are a member of that group. When you select the Users tab, then when you select a user account name (double-click or press Enter) you will see a dialog box showing that user's account information. In that dialog box is a tab to list all groups the user is a member. Typically the Primary group for each user account is the same as the user's account name.

With respect to a group's purpose, the wheel group is used to limit who can use the su command to change to the root/superuser account. If a user is not a member of the wheel group then in a traditional 'nix system, running the 'su root' command will be refused. Some distros completely disable the root user and effectively render the wheel group meaningless. On such distros, running commands with superuser privileges is performed through the sudo command.

Slackware is designed not to presume how you want to configure your system. You can use sudo or su, and the wheel group remains applicable in a Slackware system.

Being a member of the plugdev group allows users to mount and unmount removable devices. Mounting removable devices is a potential security risk and in traditional 'nix tradition, allowing that privilege is controlled through being a member of the plugdev group. Those user accounts that are not a member of the plugdev group are not allowed to mount removable devices.

I hope this helps!