[CatOne]

So root access on OS X is strange -- or at least not what I'm used to with Linux or Solaris.

Stuff like 'su' or 'su root' doesn't work -- I'm forced to do a 'sudo su' -- the plain old 'su -' gives me a "sorry" because the password is bad. I changed the password via sudo password su but it's still kinda wacky.

Is there something that describes how root is supposed to work on OS X?

Thanks,

-B

[howardm4]

thats because by default, the root acct isnt enabled.

go into netinfo manager and find the security tab (I forget offhand)
and one of the things is 'enable root'. After that, it's just like Linux/Solaris

[rkt]

Originally posted by CatOne:
<STRONG>Stuff like 'su' or 'su root' doesn't work -- I'm forced to do a 'sudo su' -- the plain old 'su -' gives me a "sorry" because the password is bad. I changed the password via sudo password su but it's still kinda wacky.</STRONG>

unless you really know that you need it, don't bother setting a password for the root account (it's more secure the way it is); instead just use "sudo -s" which will give you a shell with root privilages.

[rkt]

Originally posted by howardm4:
<STRONG>go into netinfo manager and find the security tab (I forget offhand)
and one of the things is 'enable root'.</STRONG>

since catone says that he's already changed the root password via "sudo passwd root" then making this change using netinfo manager will make no difference.

[t_hah]

This is totally weird.
I am using a new CPU. I wanted to install XonX on my machine. I need it for work.
So I went to enable root in the NetInfo Manager. Then I got to the terminal, but whenever I use "sudo" and type in the password, it does not work. I type the password in 3 times, and it still says that it is incorrect. What is going on here?
Then I went back to netInfo Manager. I changed the root password...(I thought that maybe I did some typo there). I went back to Terminal, but sudo still does not work!

Can someone help me out here please?

Thanks


t

[howardm4]

rkt,

I'm not so sure of that. I can go into netinfo and disable the
root acct and it prepends a '*' to the current passwd entry for root.

So, it is possible that he could in fact change the root passwd
w/o the account actually being enabled.

[t_hah]

Alright, I solved it...I do not really feel comfortable in UNIX yet, but this is what I did.
Someone set this computer up for multiple account. The one i was using did not have administrative privileges. So whenever i tried to "su" or "sudo', it would tell me I could not use those command...so I loged in as an admin. Then I could use "su" and "sudo".
First I was using some secondary level account, not quite sure what that is, but that is what the system said. From there I could not "su" or "sudo". Once I changed user to admin, I was able to do whatever I wanted to do.

Thanks for all the help,


t

[ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: t_hah ]

[rkt]

Originally posted by t_hah:
<STRONG>So I went to enable root in the NetInfo Manager. Then I got to the terminal, but whenever I use "sudo" and type in the password, it does not work. I type the password in 3 times, and it still says that it is incorrect.</STRONG>

enabling the root account is *not* required to use sudo; when sudo asks for a password, it's expecting the password your password, not root's.

[rkt]

Originally posted by howardm4:
<STRONG>I'm not so sure of that. I can go into netinfo and disable the
root acct and it prepends a '*' to the current passwd entry for root.

So, it is possible that he could in fact change the root passwd
w/o the account actually being enabled.</STRONG>

yes, the root account isn't "disabled" - the star isn't special; it'll just never match a hashed passwd. changing the root passwd on the command line is /exactly/ the same as doing it via netinfo manager.

[t_hah]

Thank you guys for all the help...hopefully with some time I will be comfortable with this new system.

t