I’ve read a lot of discussions about this theme, I don’t want to start a fight. Fans of *buntu and *buntu-based distributions argue, that it’s insecure to activate root account, but sometimes I get the impression reading such arguments, that all other distributors act like idiots against there users in case of security.
So please see this as a pure technical question, I don’t want to discuss my needs here, why I should not …, why there are reasons for … or against … I know what I do here (I’m not a linux guru but working with S.u.S.E since 1998 and with debian since 2002). Don’t understand me in a wrong way, in lot of cases I like to discuss about needs, but not here in this special case.
How can I activate permanent root account? I don’t like sudo, sudo -i or further sudo stuff. I want, that netrunner behaves here like debian, siduction, opensuse, mageia … I want to get root with su + password or with root + password. Is there an easy and proper way to do that?
thanks for your answer and yes, there are pro and cons, and to make it clear, I accept, if people like sudo concept of *buntu based systems.
I hope, it is done to activate root with
sudo passwd root
I’ve used kubuntu a long time ago and I remember it was not so easy to activate root account. Some aplications, which need a password for administration still expected the password of the first user after activate root account.
Yes, enabling and disabling the root account password is not the same thing as actually using the root account. Even with the root account active, most users would still use sudo when they only need to run one or just a few commands at a time, and use su only when they have much more system administration tasks to perform at once. It all depends on what you need to do and why.
Keep in mind that Ubuntu based distros and all applications are configured and meant to be root’less. So expect breakage and new problems arising from activating the root account.
I’ve tried your further hints but synaptic still deny my root password.
If I try to start applications in krunner dialogue with kdesu, it seems, that kdesu is not installed. But it is, I can find it here:
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexec/kf5/kdesu
Since day one of Ubuntu all packages and configurations are build around a root’less system. So of course activating the root account will bring problems.
By default on a shell with sudo -i
I will keep avoiding to give you any other help on that matter as the risk of breaking things is just too damn high and it doesn’t bring any benefit.
Okay, I understand, I thought it is only an few-step-way to reactivate full root access, seems, this is not the case.
I know about sudo -i, but under “full root access” I understand starting synaptic and other admin applications as root without any trouble.
But if the reactivation of permanent root access is difficult and combined with further trouble, then I let it here on netrunner as it is.
One point: I think it would be a good idea to let users a choice during installation, if he / she wants a root account like it is made in debian installer.
If you really need to have a system with root enabled by default, then the Netrunner Rolling Edition may be what you want. The installer also allows you to use the same password for root or to enter a different one. Keep in mind that the Rolling Edition is based on the stable branch of Manjaro so a small amount of Arch Linux knowledge is a bonus, but not requirement.
Currently the Rolling Edition ISO is a bit dated, so manual intervention is required to perform the first update once it is installed, but after that it’s mostly issue free.
PS. We are currently working on a new ISO for the Rolling Edition using the official methods and tools from the Manjaro team. This makes it take a little longer to put together initially, but it will also make it easier to maintain and update in the future.
