Baslinux mailing list

[qwms-avib AT dea.spamcon.org]

David Moberg wrote:
> 
> when BL starts up, it asks for a username?  Then if 
> you type in root, you get access to everything. Is 
> there any way to just automatically log in as root 
> or whatever?

Yes, it is possible to do this by editing /etc/inittab.
However, this is a significant change and it could cause 
unexpected side-effects for you (as one BL user has already 
discovered).  I recommend against it for an ordinary login.  
However, it can be useful for a headless system that has
limited functionality.  For example, I have a spare computer 
(no keyboard, no monitor) on my home network that has a 
CDrom drive and couple of HDs (which I use for archiving).  
Normally that computer is off, but occasionally I need to
access the CDrom drive (some of my computers do not have
their own) or the HDs.  So I turn it on and it automatically
boots BasicLinux and runs a telnet server and an NFS server.
No login, no shutdown.  Just press on, press off.

Such a headless system needs to bypass the login sequence.
This is done by editing one line in /etc/inittab: 
---------------------------------------------
c1:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux
---------------------------------------------
This is the line that starts the initial login.  It runs 
agetty (which prompts for the username and invokes the 
login process).  In order to bypass the login, you need 
to replace agetty.  Like this:
--------------------------------
c1:1235:respawn:/bin/bash -login
--------------------------------
This goes straight to bash (running as the primary login
shell).


Cheers,
Steven