Baslinux mailing list

[qwms-avib AT dea.spamcon.org]

James Miller wrote:
> 
> BL, unlike other Linuces I've used, comes with no 
> "native" support for adding users.  

Although it does have a "native" non-root user.

> As I'm recalling, adding additional users to BL1 was 
> a feature implemented only fairly late in the development 

BL1 started as a ramdisk distribution (without a HD
option).  In most cases such distributions run as root 
and do not include tools for managing non-root users.

> As of now, there is no user adding feature for BL2.  

Although users are welcome to add it from Slackware 7.1

> This tells me that for the developer, having additional, 
> non-root users is a very secondary concern.

True.  BasicLinux was designed as a single-user system.
It has no network servers, so outside logins are not
possible (unless you install a server from Slackware).  
Since only one person at a time uses BasicLinux, managing 
multiple users is not a high priority.

> Am I guessing correctly that you use your system almost 
> solely as root user, Steven?  

I always ran my Commodore system as root.  I always ran
my DOS system as root.  I am happy using my Linux system 
the same way.  However, in practice, I only use the CLI
as root.  I boot X (automatically in ~/.profile) as a
non-root user.

> I can see all kinds of advantages to using the computer 
> only as root user - the main one being convenience.

And why not?  It's your computer, so you should be
comfortable.

> This does fly in the face of conventional Linux wisdom,
> however.  

Conventional Linux wisdom arose within a multi-user,
networked environment.  It is much less relevant to
a single-user system without network servers.

> I've had Linux installations tell me I was stupid, for 
> example, for browsing the 'net as root user 

A browser running javascript or java or a plug-in
might be able to execute malicious code.  Under those
circumstances, it makes sense to browse the net as a
non-root user (because that reduces the destructive
potential).  The same applies to executing Trojans.

> Is there any good reason for BL users to add a less 
> priviledged user account to their system 

No need to add one, just log in as "user" instead of
"root".  That even works on ramdisk BL2.  

> Does BL2 attempt to strike some happy medium between 
> Linux and that other OS, 

If you mean DOS, yes.  BasicLinux also includes several
DOS aliases to aid the transition between DOS and Linux.

> that by default gives the user maximum system priviledges 

Linux is difficult enough to learn without constanting
tripping over priviledge problems.  By running as root
the newbie has one less brick wall to bash his head
against.

Cheers,
Steven