[ale] Root vs Normal User

[James Sumners]

Here we go again...

On 5/24/05, Christopher Fowler <cfowler at outpostsentinel.com> wrote:
> Running root does not kill the box.  The person running as root will.
> 
> I used to run as root.  Then I fubared an AIX RS/6000 because I ran tar
> in the root directory.  Being a normal user would have saved me.  We
> were down for 6 hours because of my mistake.  A UNIX box does not assume
> the user is an idiot like Windows.  There are no confirmation dialogs
> for rm, tar, and others.  A UNIX box will do exactly what you tell it to
> do.  This is why you do not need to be root unless you are doing
> administration to the box.  Linespire allowing root would scare me.  If
> I was the support manager there I would be scared that my calls would
> actually increase.  The whole idea of not running as root is not for
> protection from hackers on the outside but for the protection from the
> users on the inside.
> 
> Why is sudo not good enough?  If you need to run some program as root
> then use sudo.  That is what it was designed for.


-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59