Re: Bug#1064617: Passwords should not be changed frequently

[Justin B Rye <justin.byam.rye@gmail.com>]

Philip Hands wrote:
> Justin B Rye <justin.byam.rye@gmail.com> writes:
>> It needs a small amount of rephrasing, but the most important problem
>> is that it starts by saying you need to set a password and then goes
>> on to suggest that you might not need to set a password.  Maybe that
>> can be fixed by rearranging things slightly...
>>
>>  Template: passwd/root-password
>>  Type: password
>>  # :sl1:
>>  _Description: Root password/passphrase:
>>   To allow direct password/passphrase-based access to the 'root'
>>   (system administrative) account you can set it up here.
>>   The results can be disastrous if a malicious or incompetent user
>>   obtains root access, so you should not set one that can be guessed,
>>   found in dictionaries, or easily associated with you.
>>   .
>>   Alternatively, you can lock root's password
>>   by leaving this setting empty, and
>>   instead use the system's initial user account
>>   (which will be set up in the next step)
>>   to become root. This will be enabled for you
>>   by adding that user to the 'sudo' group.
>>   .
>>   Note: what you type here will be hidden (unless you select to show it).
>>
>> Does this still feel like the same advice?
> 
> The reason behind that structure was supposed to be that one definitely
> needs _a_ password, but not necessarily a root password, so the password
> advice applies to whichever password you'll decide to grant root access
> to, which might not be set here.

This template is specifically about the "Root password/passphrase";
probably I should have quoted the patch I was looking at, which starts
with "One needs a password/passphrase that grants access to the 'root'
(system administrative) account" but goes on to say "Alternatively,
you can lock root's password by leaving this setting empty".

> I'm OK with the way you've phrased it, although my personal preference
> would be to simply drop the "disastrous" sentence if we use this
> version, because I think it breaks the straightforward flow of the text
> laying out the choice we're trying to get the user to make between the
> two available options. (I also rather doubt that anything we say at this
> point in the install will have the slightest influence on people's
> choice of password).

I can imagine people might be more likely to heed something shorter;
maybe it could be boiled down to

    To allow direct password/passphrase-based access to the 'root'
    (system administrative) account you can set it up here.
    To protect your system you should not use one that can be guessed.

-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package