Graphical login as root [rant]

I've read several reviews of Linux distributions oriented towards new users, and I'm a bit shocked by what I've seen. Apparently a lot of them log you into a graphical environment on first boot - as root.
Now, starting as root on a command line is one thing, but root in a GUI is bloody insane. The sheer stupidity of this absolutely stuns me. X should not be run as root, and environments like KDE should definitely not be run as root. It's insecure and there is no reason for it. It's easy enough to create a default account for first login, isn't it? Well, then why don't installers for GUI-centric distros do that? It's the most basic principle of UNIX security: if it can be done as a user, don't do it as root!
[/rant]

Gullible Jones wrote:
I've read several reviews of Linux distributions oriented towards new users, and I'm a bit shocked by what I've seen. Apparently a lot of them log you into a graphical environment on first boot - as root.
Now, starting as root on a command line is one thing, but root in a GUI is bloody insane. The sheer stupidity of this absolutely stuns me. X should not be run as root, and environments like KDE should definitely not be run as root. It's insecure and there is no reason for it. It's easy enough to create a default account for first login, isn't it? Well, then why don't installers for GUI-centric distros do that? It's the most basic principle of UNIX security: if it can be done as a user, don't do it as root!
[/rant]
Yeah I thought the same thing when I read about LinSpire. Ridiculous

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[SOLVED]Unable to run Graphical applications as root/sudo

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Last edited by relik (2011-07-03 20:21:52)

SOLVED
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Just followed the install guide here for Yaourt ---> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Yaourt
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kdesu amdcccle
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sudo amdcccle
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4. Save
Last edited by relik (2011-07-03 20:22:55)

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[solved] sudo: No password needed before graphical login?

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# that prevent sudo from running.
# See the sudoers man page for the details on how to write a sudoers file.
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# %wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
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Last edited by lldmer (2008-08-11 12:51:23)

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Once a user has been authenticated, a timestamp is updated and the user may
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overridden in sudoers).
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Can you change smcwebserver login from root to non-root user

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Not sure about the first part.
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Logging into CLI from graphical login manager...possible?

Hey guys, this sounds like a backwards question, but hear me out.
I have two accounts on my computer. One of which is my main account, where do graphical design, sound editing, web surfing, and various LibreOffice tasks. This account, I want to boot straight into my standard Openbox account.
The other account, I'm planning to use solely for writing, and want to use it as a "no distractions, get stuff done," type account where I will just sit and write. I plan on using wordgrinder for word processing on this account, since that's as "no distractions" as they come. Thus, with my no distraction rule, I want to boot this account straight into commandline, and then from there, launch wordgrinder. At the very worst, if I'm going to use another program with this account, it would be mutt. However, I've already set up a GUI login manager.
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5) Other (Please state)

loafer wrote:Sorry if I've completely misunderstood but isn't Ctrl + Alt + F2 etc. an option?
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[SOLVED] Unable to login to root unless it's through another account.

I'm fairly inexperienced with Linux and am having a frustrating problem.
I've forgotten my root password (oh boy) and am experiencing some weird problems attempting to reset it.
I have other accounts, which I can log in to, and they have sudo privileges. So I am not very restricted as to what I can actually do.
So I tried to use "passwd root" to change my root account password.
This allowed me to log in to root (at least I believe it is root) using "su" and the newly created password.
However, when I reboot and try to log in to root from the normal log in screen, it claims I'm using the wrong password.
I also tried logging in to root using "su" and then using "passwd" to change the root password. I got the same results as before.
I even tried removing the root password from the "etc/shadow" file, though I'm really not familiar with how that file works in archlinux.
I've searched around online, and stumbled across some similar topics in this forum, but all of them have worked around the problem by using a boot disc in some way.
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If this has been addressed before and I missed it, please link me to the old topic.
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Last edited by bluekirby (2011-04-05 04:55:20)

bluekirby wrote:If there were any location where I could deny people from logging in as root, where would that file be?
I'm really hoping it's just something I edited months ago and forgot about.
Take a look to this topic:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=67753
And try this to reset the password:
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-reset- … knoppix-p2
After that, only the users who knows(and are listed on /etc/sudoers) the root password will be able to do root jobs, like installing/removing packages or modify the filesystem.
Note that if you use sudo you can use visudo to edit /etc/sudoers command to prevent or allow users to do root jobs, example:
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
If you uncomment %wheel line all users in wheel group can do root jobs if they know the root password.
But you can leave commented %wheel line and add users manually, example(for "edward" and "christine" users):
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
edward ALL=(ALL) ALL
christine ALL=(ALL) ALL
By doing this,these two users(through sudo) and root will be allowed to do root jobs and nobody else
NOTE: Editing /etc/sudoers through visudo is hardly recommended, please dont edit the file manually with nano,vi,vim,etc. USE "visudo"
P.S. Reseting the password through a live distro is the most recommended way to reset the root password.
Last edited by AurosGamma (2011-04-05 04:31:34)

Graphical login as root [rant]

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