Yes, there is a root account but by default the password isn't set. You can sudo to root and set it and use it like normal if you'd like. (but I would advise against that) sudo is said to be more secure for a number of reasons. First of all, you should run all admin commands prefixed with sudo (as opposed to running 'sudo su -' first) Also, it does additional logging which makes it easy to track down 'who dun-it'. It also lets you grant only certain commands to users rather than 'ALL' access. So if you need someone to be able to restart apache from time-to-time, you can give them rights to just restart apache. The problem with sudo is there are many ways to get around it, and it's not very easy to get specific. Luckily the next version of Ubuntu will incorporate PolicyKit which should allow for finer controls over things. Haven't used it yet, but it looks promising. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyHeron/Alpha4 On Feb 5, 2008 12:16 PM, Mike Miller <mbmiller at taxa.epi.umn.edu> wrote: > On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, p.daniels wrote: > > > Ubuntu (or any distro that uses the sudo model) makes this very easy. > > There is no root account by default, and the "do this as root" password > > is the password of the original user (you). When you make new users, > > they don't have root access unless you give it to them. I know on Ubuntu > > when you make a new user, the menu items that require root access don't > > even appear in their menus. > > The note above is mostly answering a question I was going to ask here. > Isn't that system weakening security a little bit by essentially making > the root password the same as one of the user passwords? If someone gets > the user password, he also gets root permissions and can do what he > pleases. > > Is there really no root account? On our Ubuntu system there is one: > > $ grep ^root /etc/passwd > > root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash > > Doesn't there have to be a root account if files are to be owned by root? > > What is the advantage of sudo over su? Does it log activity better? > > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >