Page 1 of 1

choice of desktop and system behavior [solved]

Posted: 19 Oct 2014, 19:46
by igreka
Hi everyone,

To what extent does the choice of a desktop (in my case, porting to lxqt) affect the functioning of a system (visual organization set aside). I cannot any longer use sudo as "guest". I get:
guest@porteus:~$ sudo umount /mnt/sdb1
bash: sudo: command not found
I am thinking about adding guest back to the sudo group as suggest here: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/fixsudo

How bad of an idea is that? Are there better ways?

Re: choice of desktop and system behavior

Posted: 19 Oct 2014, 19:57
by fanthom
hi igreka,

sudo is removed as is not needed for lxqt (i went back to good old ktsuss). please use 'su' instead of sudo.

Re: choice of desktop and system behavior

Posted: 19 Oct 2014, 20:12
by igreka
fanthom wrote:hi igreka,

sudo is removed as is not needed for lxqt (i went back to good old ktsuss). please use 'su' instead of sudo.
Hi Fanthom,

First off, thanks for your quick reply. Second, can I have more explanations on the logic behind this choice? I am taking a linux foundation course and they advice against using "su" as it grants permanent and not temporary root permission.

Finally, I conclude that the choice of desktop does affect the logic of my system and not just the way it looks. :shock:

Re: choice of desktop and system behavior

Posted: 19 Oct 2014, 22:29
by brokenman
In the beginning there was only su. When slackware upgraded to 14.1 and consequently upgraded the shadow package it broke the graphical 'su' programs that we used. At this stage we modified the sudo package and created a front end for it (still being used in xfce). The graphical 'su' programs gksu, kdesu, and ktsuss all run as a front end for 'su'. While it is true that sudo is a little more secure for the beginner in that you only run single commands with sudo and don't elevate to root permanently, this can also be achieved using su: su -c ‘command’

So there is no really convincing argument AFAIK as to why sudo is so much more secure. I can elevate to root using 'su' in a terminal, and then 2 minutes later when the phone rings I can quickly type 'exit' and step down to guest user while I leave the room.

Re: choice of desktop and system behavior

Posted: 19 Oct 2014, 22:50
by igreka
Awesome Brokerman,

Once the logic behind the move is clear, it is easier for the noob in me to adapt what I am learning elsewhere to Porteus. Also, I just learned a new ("-c") switch, let me go do more research on its uses. Thanks sir. :Yahoo!:

It is amazing to see just how much desktops are more than just graphical user interfaces. I have to go research that a little more. Darn, I heart tinkering with Porteus.

Re: choice of desktop and system behavior

Posted: 20 Oct 2014, 05:37
by fanthom
btw: you can always install sudo via usm if you need it.