On Fri, Jan 05, 2001 at 07:54:40PM +0100, Szilveszter Adam wrote:
> > 2) who it would be useful to, and when (systems that are *really*
> >    wedged? Or just ones with a wedged console that don't have
> >    convenient remote login capability?)
>  
> Think about a laptop... there is not even a reset switch there... again,
> every opprtunity must be tried before eg taking out the battery... it may
> not always suceed, but at least you have tried.

One other useful application is that of an ISP or MSP that needs to
shutdown machines where they may or may not have the root password.
Giving them a graceful way of shutting it down without the root password
makes it that much easier for them to manage the systems without 
endangering security.  Anyone at the console can already pull the plug,
flip the switch, hit the Shiny Reset Button, take an ax to it, steal
the drives, whatever.  There's no security lost in allowing them to
shut it down with a key sequence.  It should certainly be logged as
a console reset, and allowing it as a kernel option is reasonable.

jf
-- 
John Franklin
franklin@elfie.org
ICBM: 35°48'19"N 78°46'39"W