[ale] Linux Distributions

[Jason Day]

On Tue, May 17, 2005 at 03:10:32PM -0400, Jim Popovitch wrote:
> > As root, you can 'rm -rf /". As common user, you can do such only if
> > such is explicitly granted by /etc/sudoers. 
> 
> As a common user you can "rm -rf ~" without sudo, which is worse?

The first one will require you to reinstall and reconfigure the entire
system, and restore user data from backup.  The second will only require
you to restore user data from backup.

> > On a single-user home/hobby/test system, the distinction may not come
> > as clear as in a true multi-user environment.
> 
> Few, if any, Linux desktop users are running multi-user environments.
> In fact, multi-user is over-blown for this list, esp when talking
> browsers, guntella, etc.  Granted there is probably someone who shares
> the same PC with his/her spouse/kids.  In those cases user accounts make
> sense, but I bet one of them has wheel or similar privileges. 

I've seen suggestions from people on this list to run email clients and
web browsers as a different user from your normal user.  That way, a bug
in your browser or email client that results in a compromise can't even
harm your user data.

Jason
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9