Subject: Re: Linux vs NetBSD su
To: Max Bell <mbell@europa.com>
From: Joao Carlos Mendes Luis <jonny@mailhost.coppe.ufrj.br>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 03/12/1997 02:57:21
#define quoting(Max Bell)
// >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", but some do not live up to that responsibility.

That's why Free Unices are so popular.  You want power ?  Buy YOUR
machine and be root in YOUR OWN system.  You want power on your lab
machines ?  Talk to the boss.  If the boss trusts you, you will be
in the wheel group.  If not, you should not use the root account,
anyway.

But, if for an incredible feeling of generosity, you thinnk everybody
should be root, please, give me also the root account on your machine.
I need more CPU cicles and disk space.  :)

					Jonny

--
Joao Carlos Mendes Luis			jonny@gta.ufrj.br
+55 21 290-4698 ( Job )			jonny@cisi.coppe.ufrj.br
Network Manager				UFRJ/COPPE/CISI
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro