Re: dangerous to leave root logged in?

From: prg (rdgentry1_at_cablelynx.com)
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: 28 Mar 2005 16:40:12 -0800

hans_schulze98@yahoo.de wrote:
> > They're all trying to tell you something that ought to be obvious
to
> > you by now. When you're logged in as root, it's as if you're
walking
> > around with a lit stick of dynamite in each hand. This is not
> > something that any sane person wants to do longer than he has to.
>
> How often do I have to repeat it...
>
> All commands run as root are those that need root perm, and are those
> that *you* would use root for too.
>
> 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.

One last hammer blow...;)

There is _no_ difference between "running" as root and "leave them
sitting logged on as root when idle". Repeat, "No difference".

Opps, yes there is a difference!

You seem to think that the keyboard physically attached to the box has
some magical signifcance not shared by remote keyboards.

Remote access is _different_ , but that does not make it _impossible_
or even _difficult_ for the knowledgable cracker (or script kiddies
these days). Not only was *nix designed for multi-user access; it was
_designed_ for multi-user _remote_ access. Go figure. Both keyboards
can wake up a "sleeping" process.

Why you spend so much time (or us for that matter) trying to do it
"your way" without simply stating what it is you're trying to do, is
beyond all sense. Strangely, it is not uncommon.

Never have I seen an explanation of the problem or lessening of the
reluctance to clarify when no clarification was provided by this time.
You're committed to "doing it your way".

In one last p**s-in-the-wind effort might I suggest such other things
as:
snmp
Nagios
Webmin
MRTG
KDE System Guard

Did I mention syslogd and logrotate? Think I did already. Others
mentioned SSH, so I won't suggest that.

Just tell us what you're trying to accomplish and we will try to get
you to success. We're helping you now by telling you, "not this way".
Help _us_ by telling us _what_ you're trying to accomplish, not how to
make your solution work. Think about it. If it was that obvious, you
would have it done already.

We're not asking for you to surrender or cry "Uncle" ;)

prg

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