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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Again - UI
From:       Richard Moore <rich () ipso-facto ! freeserve ! co ! uk>
Date:       2000-04-24 13:20:36
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Rik Hemsley wrote:
> 
> #if Richard Moore
> > Because it would be an incredibly huge security hole! Do NOT ever do
> > this. Instead, if you want this functionality you should use kdesu
> > which is intended for exactly this sort of thing. It will popup a
> > dialog asking for the root password, then invoke the program as
> > root. eg. in my KDE 1.x setup I have an icon on kpanel that executes
> > "kdesu -c 'konsole'" to allow me to get a root shell when I need one.
> 
> That wasn't meant to be taken so literally. I'm quite aware of the
> holes that would open. The point is, the person who administrates

Not everyone on this list, is likely to be aware of the potential
issues though...

> the machine shouldn't have to enter the password of another user to
> do their job. Your average home user doesn't understand the concept
> of 'root' and, more importantly, shouldn't have to, especially when
> they're dealing with a machine which has no other local users.

Well, I think that can be fixed by a simple change in terminology. If
we always refer to the 'adminstration password' and define it as 'a
password that you need to enter to perform an administration task',
the concept becomes a lot clearer. Logging in as root becomes entering
adminstration mode.

How does this sound to you?

Rich.

> 
> Rik

-- 
     Richard Moore		rich@ipso-facto.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.robocast.com/	richard@robocast.com
http://developer.kde.org/	rich@kde.org

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