Re: [Hampshire] xubuntu su <>sudo question

On Sunday 12 July 2009 13:22:42 Alan Pope wrote:
> Hi Tim,
>
> 2009/7/12 Tim <xendistar@???>:
> > I followed the instruction in the link but it still does not work (or
> > rather it does not give the desired affects). If I go to add\remove
> > programs and select a program to remove, it pop up and ask me to enter
> > the root password, I enter the password, it goes away and comes back a
> > couple of seconds later saying wrong password, I renter the password and
> > it then just fades the background and sits there doing nothing until I
> > click the cancel button.
>
> Yes, this is as a result of the change you made, re-enabling the root
> account.
>
> > I found the file Martin mentioned although I am not sure what\or if I
> > should edit it (the header in the file suggests I don't). I did find how
> > to stop the user from being able to administer the system in user
> > settings (now that was fun when you disable that and then can't get back
> > in!!)
>
> man sudoers
>
> Will detail the documentation for that file. In a nutshell it lists
> who can issue the 'sudo' command and what they can do with it. In an
> Ubuntu install the first user is put in the admin group which is given
> sudo rights, so the first user is effectively the 'admin' of the
> machine. You can of course change this by simply manipulating the
> group assignments using the graphical user admin tool, or if you're
> more command line inclined by editing files in /etc or issuing the
> relevant user maintenance commands.
>
> > At the moment the laptop has two users, my son and root, I have reverted
> > back to giving my son account rights to administers the system. I did try
> > logging in as root but It won't let me.
>
> Personally I'd revert the change you did (re-disabling root) and
> create a new admin user (yourself) on the box, and take your Son out
> of the admin group.
>
> > I can work a round this by setting myself up as a third users with rights
> > to administer the system and remove those rights from my sons account,
> > but I just think I should be able to revert to a old fashioned user and
> > root access (or maybe not as the case is proving)??
>
> You can do that, but as the page I linked to indicates, it's not the
> way Ubuntu tends to do it.
>
> Cheers,
> Al.

Thanks for the advice Al, as it is I am having to do reinstall as I broke Xorg.
I tried installing the ATI fgxlr drivers, then when I rebooted the gui bombed,
I made a few attempts to recover the desktop with out luck, I decided what with
the problem with the accounts as well that I would do a complete reinstall.

Thanks for the help

Tim