I heard some things about a root account on the IT. Sorry for sounding ignorant but what is root? And what's different with a root account? And how do I become root? And finally how do I become a normal account again? Thanks ahead of time!

Try here. It should help...

I already did. And no, it didn't help. That's why I created this. Seriously what's wrong with creating new threads? The other forums I go to don't care as much as here. I'm kind of new so why don't you help me?

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=11052

That ought to help, at least with "become root" though I know nothing of "root accounts."

You might do better searching next time with the Google search link on this forum's homepage (which is how I easily found the above link).

Linux is designed as a multi-user system, where each user is granted certain privileges.

But what happens if we want to grant someone privileges to, say, use networking? What if that is the first account on the system? How would Bobby feel if someone else he doesn't even know said "you can enter Bobby's house". Obviously, what I mean there is: It would be very broken if Linux let people grant other people permission without permission themselves! But then... what if it's the first account on the system? What if that is a user without full permissions? Eeek!

This is where root comes in. Root exists on every Linux system under the sun. Root can do anything and everything, including creating new users. Root is that user who can justifiably tell anyone to enter Bobby's house, since root is the ultimate supreme power in a Linux system, and there is only one root.

But then, why don't we just always run as root if it makes everything so much simpler?

Root's supreme power is sometimes a disadvantage to him. The slightest flick of his wrist can send the entire universe he worked so hard to create crashing down, so he has taken to sitting quietly most of the time for the sake of all other life. In some maniacal systems, root is the only user, and people run as root all the time. The result there is dangerous stuff as mentioned. (Windows typically did this, or at least had a design making this preferable, until very recently).

In other similarly crazy Linux systems, people must log in as root from time to time in order to, for example, add new users or install software. This is safer since being root is a deliberate and short lived act, but still dangerous since they are running millions of lines of code with full access rights. A security flaw can potentially be exploited by malware, giving it immediate access to do anything nasty that it may please. (A mosquito standing on the shoulders of a God, if you will). Even a simple bug in that software can have disastrous consequences when the user it is being run as is actually permitted to change any and all files.

In most Linux systems, we have a system of running programs with certain privileges on the fly. The conventional way is with "sudo", which runs just a single program as root. This means that deliberate act is even more deliberate and does not get out of hand. (Hm... now that I'm awake from my slumber, I may as well poke around the Interwebs for a little while. A minute of absolute power shouldn't hurt anyth--- oops!). Sudo, however, still means that the GUI for said program, as well as lots of other unnecessary code, gets run as root for no good reason.
Thus, an even more fancy technology would be PolicyKit. That one elevates privileges for particular operations for particular programs, ensuring that nothing ever gets out of hand and that we know exactly where every bit of root's absolute power is going.


There, my probably woefully inaccurate (I admit to still learning this stuff) quick explanation of root!

That's an excellent rundown, Picklesworth. It equates (it seems to me) to adminstrator, user and guest accounts in Windows.

The thing with Linux is that it couches perfectly ordinary ideas in obscure terms.

In one post here, someone pointed out that the idea behind 'root' was to keep 'normal' people out of the system. The trouble with the latest ITs is that they are being bought by 'normal' people and some old Linux buffers feel their hierarchy is under threat.

And on the subject of "why don't you help me?"

I sympathize with you, but the fact is that we get asked certain questions over and over and over and over and over again, and we get tired of answering them. That's ok, because there is a constantly replenishing number of newbies who will be happy to answer your questions.

The problem is, that the newbies who will be happy to answer your questions might not be as well informed as the oldbies who are too jaded to answer your question because they have already done so so many times.

That means that there is a certain danger that you will get answers from people who aren't as well informed, or alternately, you will get answers from people who seem strangely cranky.

So we try to encourage people to search for answers since they will often get better answers and will make themselves better informed while they are at it, and won't encounter so many cranky people.

Stick around, and you will eventually get cranky too.

That only applies to people who started life with Windows.

People who started life with Linux or Unix would say

I started with a ZX80, via MSDOS and Mac to Windows in the 90s.

If 'root' is ordinary language for administrative rights, I can only say that I speak English and French and I can't find a dictionary in either of those that thinks so:-)

I don't think I've ever said 'why don't you help me', though I have said 'thanks' on many occasions.

The reason that so many people need help is that the documentation with the IT is abysmal. There is no top to tail run down of its modus operandi. Compare it with the documentation for, say a Palm or any mobile phone. Therefore, people are forced to rely on help from folk here and helpful most people are.

I bought a book on Linux. It is not very useful because Maemo being a cut down version, half the commands and switches aren't present. Again, there appears to be no authoritative documentation for Maemo written in anything the Plain English Campaign could endorse.

I get the impression that Linux is akin to a religion for some people as much as a computer operating system. But also that there is a cultural clash, between the Linux buffs and people who thought they were buying a consumer device.

I am a proponent of RTFM. The trouble with the IT is WITFM...where is the flamin' manual?

Not to mention the high likelihood that someone here who knows squat about becomeroot (gaining root access) will probably break something unwittingly and then start a whole new thread about 'oops, i broke my tablet, now what do i do, short of a reflash?' and not knowing how to communicate the symptoms effectively ("something's blinking in the background in some app") and not wanting to reflash

I'm always happy to help, but not to spoonfeed. I know when doing a search WILL yield results, and what is sought can be found by going through the first couple or results. It's when people can't be bothered to seach, then come on all high and mighty about 'the bad attitude' of the veterans here, that I get into a really pissy mood.

Karma means that people like these will someday marry and end up spending the rest of their lives with other halves who search using their mouths (honey, where's the remote? -- when the remote is right next to him/her) instead or using their eyes