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Re: User permissions and groups



No, that wasn't taken as a flame at all.  In all honesty, you answered the question perfectly, because you addressed the faulty logic behind it.  The other answer I've received so far was very good as well, and gave me a way to work around the problem.  All of what you said makes a lot of sense, actually.  I was reading "Understanding the Linux Kernel" (O'Reilly) earlier tonight, and what you said is exactly what hit me.  I keep thinking in the single-user, "Windows" mode (you may slap my wrist now) instead of what Linux truly is...a Unix mainframe in the body of a PC.  

So, then, in relation to Linux on the desktop (that's sure the hot topic of the year!), the question is thus:  Does the Linux community (and distros in particular) have to change it's paradigm to accommodate how users view their computers and how they are used, or it necessary to show the typical end-user a new way to do everyday "home computing"?  It would seem that Lindows and Lycoris are doing the first, and RedHat and Mandrake are trying the second.  How this will turn out, I don't think we will see for a while.  Thanks for the insight, though.  It is much appreciated!

Adam    


Travis Owens <openbook@linuxmds.com> wrote:

>Adam,
>
>My advice for you, is to not do what you're thinking you should do.
>
>I know that's not what you want to hear, nor is it a good answer to your
>question, but I say this for a reason. The main reason is probably
>because your unfamiliar with the concept of a true multi-user system
>with a good security model.
>
>Stop and think for a second and you'll see why they setup the machine so
>you would *need* to change to root to do certain things. The concept
>here, is a multi-user system. This means you do things as you, things
>that only partain to you, and things that only _affect_ you. Anything
>that needs to affect the "whole" system, is only to be done as root,
>since these changes can seriously damage the machine, they must be done
>sparingly. Also, any process started as root, such as compiling, is also
>a dangerous idea, because these processes have a tendency to become
>"runaway" processes. You then have to be root to kill it, and even then,
>it may not die...
>
>The design is not just for security of permissions/access, but also the
>stability of the machine.
>
>Obviously on a desktop-like Linux machine, there will be a greater need
>for becoming root, since there will no doubt be more
>installations/upgrades/updates done to the system. However, this is
>*not* a reason to "reconfigure" your machine for a different security
>scheme, merely to save time/effort.
>
>Remember, you are a "newbie" and it won't do you too well to destroy
>your machine just when you're getting comfortable in it. :)
>
>(This was not a flame or blast on you! It was just merely advice from
>experience) :)
>
>Hope this helps!
>Travis.
>
>On Mon, 2003-04-28 at 17:09, Adam Born wrote:
>> Hi y'all.  I'm a relative newbie to Linux (read about it for a year,
>> seriously moved to using it full-time about 6 weeks ago).  What are a
>> good set of changes to make to the file/group permissions to my user on
>> my system?  I know not to work as root unless necessary, but I was
>> wondering what are some good changes to make to my user in order to save
>> myself from changing to root all of the time.  I have three systems that
>> I use (a web server running Slackware 9.0, a workstation/desktop PC
>> running RedHat 9, and a development box running Slackware 9.0 at work).
>>  Do I want all of these to have access to the same files/directories?
>>  Is there good documentation about this somewhere (I've looked, but not
>> found much)?  TIA!
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>> -
>> To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
>> "unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.
>--
>Travis Owens <openbook@linuxmds.com>
>Linux MDs
>

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