Subject: Re: Linux vs NetBSD su
To: Max Bell <mbell@europa.com>
From: Josh Lynch <tyme@visi.com>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 03/11/1997 23:56:49
At 09:42 PM 3/11/97 -0800, you wrote:
>>From: Josh Lynch <tyme@visi.com>
>>At 08:45 PM 3/11/97 -0800, you [mbell] wrote:
>>>[extract of RMS position on wheel group omitted]
>>Hmm, I can "see" where Stallman's posistion would be good....in a place
>>where everyone is honest, but, come on does anyone really know where that
>>place is? 
>>Sysadmins holding faciest power over their users??! Last time I checked,
>>that was in the job description, to take care of the system(s)! And that
>>definately includes keeping the root passwd and account as private as
>>possible...anyway..
>
>Shrug.  Back in the good old days (into the late 1980s), overly retentive
>super-lusers were a far greater problem than crackers.  There are few
>things more annoying that being unable to do something useful because the
>person authorized to do it is not interested.  An example would be adding
>a printcap entry for a "seldom used" remote printer, correcting errors in
>the termcap database, or installing new software.  Having super-user
>ability on a system means one has a duty to serve the needs of the users
>no matter how "uninteresting",
 
hmmm, it seems i took this for granted, my mistake...

>but some do not live up to that responsibility.

sad but true, eh?

>These days, the need to keep crackers from destroying or misusing user data
>makes the "wheel" group a necessity, but it was not always so.
>
Definately agree here...way too many lame users out there. But "crackers"
are here to stay..until the internet fad wear's off anyway.

______________
Josh          |
tyme@visi.com |
--------------|
"Don't you hate people who put qoutes in every message they write?" -- Me