The "root" account is the most privileged account on a Unix system.
28
votes
4answers
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Becoming root from inside Vim
Sometimes I start editing configuration files in /etc using Vim, but forget to use sudo to start Vim. The inevitable result then is that after finishing my edits I encounter the dreaded notice that I ...
24
votes
5answers
5k views
How do I run a command as the system administrator (root)
I need to run a command with administrative privileges. Someone said I should run a command as root. How do I do this?
21
votes
7answers
2k views
Non-Root Package Managers
From my research, I seem to notice that all package managers insist on being used as a privileged user and must be installed into /.
Typically, what I like to do is create a throwaway account, ...
19
votes
1answer
1k views
How to get root inside of vi? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Becoming root from inside Vim
It could happen to anyone. The admin types:
vi /etc/resolv.conf
as a regulare user. He edits the /etc/resolv.conf file, but when he ...
19
votes
2answers
834 views
How does the power button shut the computer down without root permission?
When I try to shutdown the computer from a command line or terminal I must have root privileges:
amy@amy:~$ shutdown now
shutdown: Need to be root
and
amy@amy:~$ halt
halt: Need to be root
but ...
19
votes
1answer
894 views
Why can't root execute when executable bits are not set?
root user can write to a file even if its write permissions are not set.
root user can read a file even if its read permissions are not set.
root user can cd into a directory even if its execute ...
16
votes
4answers
10k views
Reserved space for root on a filesystem - why?
I understand that by default, newly created filesystems will be created with 5% of the space allocated for root. I also know you can change the defined space with:
tune2fs -m 1 /dev/sdXY
What I'm ...
16
votes
3answers
720 views
Is it secure to leave a root shell running in detached screen session?
I'm curious about the security of leaving a root shell running inside a detached screen session. I typically never do this.
Aside from the potential of my non-root user account being compromised ...
15
votes
2answers
1k views
Origin of 'root' account
What's the origin of root account? Where did it come from and why is it called root anyway?
(Originally asked by @lizztheblizz on Twitter.)
13
votes
3answers
4k views
How does sudo work?
I've tried messing around with configuring sudo before, but I haven't had too much luck with it. How is it different from su -l -c "x"? It seems that via the configuration file, one can make it so a ...
12
votes
4answers
561 views
How universal is sudo?
I was writing some instructions on how to install something (TeX-related - if you don't ask, I won't ruin your day by supplying more details) and used sudo to install system-wide. Someone commented ...
12
votes
4answers
3k views
How do you rename root?
Not that it's a very good idea to change it, but for fun. According to this post, there are still some problems even after changing entries in /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and /etc/sudoers. Any ...
12
votes
3answers
3k views
How far can you go with rm -rf / as root
If you are root, and you issue
rm -rf /
Then how far can the command go? Can you recover data from this kind of an action? Even after the binaries are gone, would the running processes still be ...
12
votes
1answer
3k views
Why are the first 1024 ports restricted to the root user only?
This is more idle curiosity than anything else. A friend of mine asked me 'which port range is it that only root can use under Linux?' I told him 0-1024 were restricted. Then he asked my why it was so ...
11
votes
6answers
1k views
Is there a root password on OS X and Ubuntu?
When you setup a new Ubuntu or OS X installation a user is generally created for you. On OS X it is whatever username you pick. On Ubuntu (the server version) usually the ubuntu user is created.
The ...
