A Linux ThinkPad

I'd love to find out how well it does.

I just updated a SuSE install on a friend's Dell laptop that came with Ubuntu on it, from 10.1 to 10.3. I went without a hitch.

Ubuntu was a bear to update and configure, SuSE was a dream, then again my years of running SuSE probably contributed to that scenario. Besides, I tried and tried to get the root enabled in Ubuntu and came up empty every time; with SuSE it was a non issue.

I have a T60 with Ubuntu 8.04. Pretty much trouble free except it runs a bit hot at times. This appears to be either a kernel issue (with core duo processors) or the crappy fglrx driver. Ubuntu 7.10 did not have this issue.

I thought root was enabled in Ubuntu, but it was a randomized password...I could be wrong. But it always worked before to run "sudo passwd root" and then change the root password. Not being much of an Ubuntu user, I never found it to be an issue. ;)

There is not a root password in Ubuntu- you have to create one, and "sudo passwd root" is how you do it. The debates over this are endless, mainly because of uninformed but enthusiastic Ubunuts. Ubuntu's sudo hack is a pretty good compromise between decent security and usability for noobs. (Contrast that with Linspire's idiotic run-as-root policy.) For a desktop system running no public services, having one all-powerful sudo user is a nice convenience, and from a security standpoint a bit risky but not horridly so. A weak password gives away the keys to the kingdom, but an intruder needs to find a point of entry, and if there isn't one, oh well.

However, even on well-protected desktop systems you should have a root password when you use Ext3. Ext3 sets aside 5% of the filesystem exclusively for the root user, so if some process goes berserk and fills up your hard drive, Real Root has that 5% of wiggle room to fix things. There are also some commands that do not work with sudo.

I'm not worthy, believe me, but here's my Ubuntu hack:

$ sudo su

#

If you absolutely, positively need a root prompt. ... in Ubuntu, I can't edit root's crontab without it.

That works too. Make it sudo su - to get root's environment.

Or 'sudo /bin/bash'

I am told you can allow a regular user to have sudo rights on Ubuntu using some configuration tool.or file . I never opted to use it, since I run nearly everything as an ordinary user on the 6.06 Desktop. When there are security fixes or I need to run a commit of a project under version control, I switch to the main user and mostly use sudo. If I want more power I use the sudo su command.

Usually you add them to the sudoers file by using the visudo utility.

No, but I have two post loaded with Mandriva. Well actually I don't have them, I did them for some other people.

I like "apt-get install something-besides-ubuntu", but that's just me. Most users have crappy passwords, so on Ubuntu you just have to guess one crappy password to get the keys to the kingdom, on most distros you have to guess two crappy passwords.

If I were in the habit of not dual-booting, I'm ready to go with encrypted LVM (with a strong password) for everything, especially laptops. Coincidentally, it's easy to do with Debian and the alternate install CD of Ubuntu ...

@NoDough: That method can cause problems as it doesn't set $HOME correctly. If you use an app like Midnight Commander it's config and history files will be stored in the original user's home but with root permissions. I tested a bunch of different ways of getting a root shell using sudo: http://jhansonxi.blogspot.com/2007/12/root-ending-up-in-wron...

@tuxchick and rijelkentaurus: I think the sudo password issue is mostly psychological. Linux admins are conditioned to use strong passwords with the root account but may not consider the implications of the strength of their personal account password on a system using sudo. It doesn't help that Ubuntu's installer doesn't really indicate that the first user account created is effectively root. The first account I create is "administrator" with a ridiculously strong password. I use a separate account for daily use.

@Steven_Rosenber: Real pros do RAID+LVM+crypt with pam_mount and mixed SATA and PATA drives. With Ubuntu this puts you way over the bleeding edge.

I guess my thing is that I am used to having a complete root profile to log into and have to walk around in to do system admin stuff and not have to type in the root PW all day long. In Ubuntu you do sudo in a terminal but still have no root profile to login too.

Until Ubuntu can give me my root profile to login too, I will not use it very much. It may not be logical of me, but luckily I am human and logic is optional..LOL!

> $ sudo su

I do something similar: "sudo -s"

For su, you might want to say "sudo su -" to give you the root env as well as root powers.

> in Ubuntu, I can't edit root's crontab without it...

hmm - sudo crontab -e works for me... don't like the default editor choice of nano however.

Quoting:@NoDough: That method can cause problems as it doesn't set $HOME correctly.

Sure enough. Never really noticed before.

> In Ubuntu you do sudo in a terminal but still have no root profile to login too.

It's shouldn't be that hard to create the root user home directory and default settings. In the 6.06 install of Ubuntu (which is the only one I have access to at the moment), the root user is already set up to have a home of /root and a shell of /bin/bash. All you should have to do is create the /root directory and copy the usual files into it. (where Debian distros store those files I have no idea, they used to be in /etc/skel in Slackware). Then all you have to do is set the root user's password, which I believe can be accomplished with a simple sudo passwd root.