Sean O'Dubhghaill wrote:
On Wednesday 01 Dec 2004 8:02 pm, Ralph Katz wrote:On 12/01/2004 02:10 PM, Frederico Rodrigues Abraham wrote:Isn't there an option on GDM to enable normal users to shutdown and reboot the machine? It always requires the root password to do it... -- FredYes. This is from my /etc/gdm/gdm.conf (using Sarge):And you can also change this from the gdmsetup tool by turning off secure actions menu in the Security tab# The Actions menu (formerly system menu) is shown in the greeter, this is the # menu that contains reboot, shutdown, suspend, config and chooser. None of # these is available if this is off. They can be turned off individually # however SystemMenu=true # The Actions in the Actions menu require the root password SecureSystemMenu=falseRegards, Ralph
I have often wondered why exactly it defaults to requiring a password. Requiring a user who has physical access to a computer root privileges to shut it down seems fundamentally flawed to me--they could easily shut it down by removing power. However this is potentially damaging, so it seems logical to allow them to initiate a proper shutdown. Is removing this limitation a security issue for remote users? Surely disabling 'secure actions' won't allow a remote user to shutdown via gdm.. right? Anyhow, just thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone has a good explanation. It always seemed to be a completely unncessesary and potentially frustrating default. I find it especially strange since by default any user can shut down once logged into gnome via gdm, but they become stranded once back on the welcome screen.
Michael Spang