Re: dangerous to leave root logged in?

hans_schulze98_at_yahoo.de
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: 28 Mar 2005 16:19:35 -0800

Keith Keller wrote:
> On 2005-03-28, hans_schulze98@yahoo.de <hans_schulze98@yahoo.de>
wrote:
> >
> > The question is not whether to run things root or not. The question
is
> > if you can leave them sitting logged on as root when idle.
>
> The answer is still the same: you can, but I wouldn't.
>
> I think we're still lacking in specifics: what exactly is it that you
> need to do that you want to have root logged in constantly? Perhaps
if
> you gave details, people would either back off or give you other
> alternatives you maybe haven't thought of. But so far you've given
no
> compelling reason (for me, anyway) to leave root logged in.

You're right, Keith, I haven't really. Of course, some people are
impossible to convince, eg those who think it is best to use sudo (and
type password) for every single command run as root. I am not one of
them. I want things reasonably easy. Here's some examples (they will
not convince the die-hards but then nothing can).

There's a tool here that checks for updates and tells me which ones are
out there (about 1 per day), what it updated and why. Every time it
starts it hogs the cpu and disk for 2 minutes (rpm database or
whatnot), and you have to stare at the screen for 2 minutes before it
runs. Or you just leave it running (which I do).

There's some email sent to root about small things here and then. You
can periodically log in to see if there's mail. Or you leave the mailer
running (which I do).

There's small jobs to do with changing config files or changing file
permissions or moving files between accounts here and then. You can su
each time. Or you leave a root xterm running.

And so on. Probably everything can be done with su/sudo per-command,
probably even on a text terminal. It only takes twice as much typing.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: dangerous to leave root logged in?
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