On 02/15/2011 04:36 AM, SomeSuSEUser wrote:
>
> DenverD;2284877 Wrote:
>> how did you log in as root?
>
> Apologies for leaving you hanging
no problem…
> I just logged off the gui as user and then logged back on gui as root
> and used Dolphin to navigate to my user/.kde4 directory and delete it.
that was what i was concerned about…it is the way lots of folks with
experience in other systems (and little in linux/*nix) attack the
situation, but things are a little different…you should never log
into KDE/Gnome/XFCE or any other *nix-like graphical user interface
desktop environment as root…
doing so 1) opens you up to several different security problems if you
(for example) browse the net, 2) too many too easy ways to damage your
system no matter how careful your actions (for example: well
documented cases of unintended change of ownership of ~/.ICEauthority
and ~/.Xauthority from user to root sometimes occurs), 3) and, anyway
logging into KDE/etc as root is never required to do any and all
administrative duties…
so, always log in as yourself, and “become root” by using a root
powered application (like YaST, File Manager Superuser Mode) or using
“su -”, sudo, kdesu, or gnomesu in a terminal to launch whatever tool
is needed (like Kwrite to edit a config file)…read more on all that
here:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Login_as_root
http://tinyurl.com/ydbwssh
http://tinyurl.com/6ry6yd
additionally: after logging into KDE/Gnome/etc as root, if you
experience problems (for example, with uncommanded file ownership and
permissions changes) and if you can provide us with details of what
you were doing while you were logged in as root, that would help us
identify if there’s a bug that needs to be fixed…thanks for your help…
for example instead of all that time consuming log out, log in as
root, log out, log in as self you could have (and should have) just
done this:
-hold down Alt and press F2
-type kdesu dolphin
-type in your root password when asked
-do your thing in the root powered Dolphin which will soon pop up
-close that Dolphin when the root job is done…
that, you can do faster than all that logging out/in AND it is safer
for your system…
> It’s +10 years old (Maxtor) so I guess I’ve gotten my money’s worth
yep!
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11