On 17 February 2017 at 02:45, David Thatcher <plusphoto@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 06:52:53PM -0700, Chris Trask wrote:
>
> > Basically, I need to edit a configuration file that is owned by
> > ROOT. Seems that a series of SLEEP commands are keeping the network
> > manager from loading, and that is keeping me from all internet access.
> > Those cammands need to be turned into remarks and the file saved.
> >
> > In one blog I just encountered, the poster added himself to the
> > ROOT group, then gave himself all permissions. That sounds reasonable.
>
> Allowing a user-level login to have root permissions/access without a
> conscious privelege escalation is a Really Bad Idea(tm). This lack of
> privelege separation is why some OSs are so vulnerable to attack from
> viruses etc. There should be comments in the blog that say that :) It's
> less of a problem if you're the only user, but it's "not the done
> thing".
>
> I imagine you have 2 options.
>
> 1: login as root and edit the files (you'd need the root account
> password) though this option may be locked out by policy on the system
>
"sudo passwd root" will usually allow you to set a password for the root
user, which will then allow you to log on as root, if you want to go that
way. There isn't usually a default password set for root, to sidestep the
probable security flaw of no-one ever changing it. As has been said,
simply prefixing your commands with "sudo" will usually get the same result
more safely. You will usually be asked at least once to give your own
password when using sudo, because not all users are allowed to use this
method (that would be silly, since it would give every user elevated
rights). The default user is usually able to do this though.
Buy a Raspberry Pi and play around with it a bit, you'll end up picking up
some of this stuff ;) (not a serious comment - if you're using $20 laptops
there's not much point spending $30 on a Pi).
2: login as normal and use sudo for priv escalation. I think this is
> the preferred option in the linux world.
>
That's certainly been my experience so far.
Ian
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