On Wednesday 29 May 2024 00:12:38 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp via tde-users wrote:
Anno domini 2024 Wed, 29 May 08:30:20 +0200
Thierry de Coulon via tde-users scripsit:
if you want to find out whether anything bad will happen by running Konqueror as root, then we will save you the time and trouble, and say, yes, sooner or later, bad things happen.
I always find this sort of declaration a little exagerated, and funnily no one ever seems to answer: "why?"
Easiest scenario: Some programs use $USER to find their config file location. You run that program as root. Now you have a problem that you don't know about.
To me there is little difference between running an app with sudo and running it as root. If I need to do a lot of work as root, I just log in as root (and I've set up the root desktop with ugly, flashy colours so that I know I'm there). Letting you login as root with a GUI is a nice thing of TDE.
Of course no one should "live" as root (although I did that for one year when learning how to use Linux, but that was not a "production" machine), but why make people believe that as soon as they are root, they are doomed?
People live as root on Windows machines and while this is a dangerous thing, bad things don't always happen.
I just feel that this "never run Linux as root" is some religious mantra, and who does not respect it is an heretic. Thierry
If you recall, there were some earlier threads, started by the same person, asking the same question; thus my answer.
I did not say, NEVER, never, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever ...
Besides, as I pointed out earlier in that thread, I sometimes do the same, run konqueror or another program as root, because it is easier to perform some tasks. As
I mention there, Nik, too, (I feel sure) sometimes runs a program as root; and he is the person who first objected to running konqueror as root.
I was taking up a less extreme position, saying that it is just common sense: don't live as root. Get in and get out. Don't leave a root process open and available to anybody who might somehow, by whatever means, gain access to your machine.
Oh ... this is how flame wars started more than 20 years ago :)
Remember Bastard Operator From Hell? http://bofharchive.com
Nik
Well, just as long as nobody mentions Nazis or Hitler or fascists, then the TDE mailing list is safe from that kind of embarrassment.
;-)
Bill