[OT] Re: Running graphical programs as root

[houghi]

On Wed, May 09, 2012 at 10:15:49AM -0700, Ray Andrews wrote:
> I see what you're saying.  Maybe there is no other way, but I can't
> help but wonder if there might be some mechanism to let 'me' do
> anything I want (as root) and yet prevent malicious attacks.  

There is. su, sudo and sudoers

> If root types ' rm -r / ' well ... he typed it, too bad.  OTOH if I'm
> playing an .mp3 as root and there's some devilish exploit in there,
> might there not be some way of monitoring for that? 

No. Because it has no idea if it is some exploit or if it is expected
behaviour. Perhaps my idea of fun is listening to Wagner while I delete a
hard drive.

> Dunno, maybe this is pie in the sky, but it's a nice dream to have
> control of one's system without at the same time giving that control
> to the whole world at the same time.

And that is why there is su, sudo and sudoers.

If I want to run YaST, I do not want to type in a password each time. I
know that that program is for root. So now I do not, while it still runs
as root.

houghi
-- 
This is written under the inluence of the following:
>   Artist : Madonna
>     Song : Borderline
>    Album : The Immaculate Collection