RE: Authentication Mechanism Setup
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:21:29 -0500 (EST), Norman Armstrong wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:22:46 -0500, Stephen Powell wrote:
>> On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:12:13 -0500, Norman Armstrong wrote:
>>> Since I installed Lenny on my laptop I
>>> have been experiencing a small difficulty.
>>>
>>> When I open a root
>>> terminal (or other tasks which require root privilege) the system
>>> grants me permission without requiring a password. It does display a
>>> pop-up Granted permissions without asking for password. I
>>> would like to turn this off, but cannot find out how to do this.
>>>
>>> Please point me to the information
>>> which will allow me to fix this situation.
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Norm
>>
>> I assume that you are using the default GNOME desktop.
>> The way it's *supposed* to work is that the FIRST TIME
>> you open a root terminal since starting the GNOME desktop
>> it will prompt you for the administrative password. On
>> the pop-up window where you are prompted for the administrative
>> password is a check box labeled "Remember password".
>> By default, the box is checked. If you uncheck the box,
>> it will prompt you for the administrative password every time
>> you open a root terminal. This is the safest procedure.
>> But if you leave the box checked, it will only prompt the
>> first time. Subsequent openings of "root terminal" will be
>> granted access without supplying a password. If you logout
>> of the GNOME desktop and then login again, it will prompt
>> for the administrative password again. Just make sure
>> that you uncheck the box marked "Remember password" and it
>> will prompt you every time.
>
> OK, the password issue is solved. Now I open a root terminal
> and it asks for the password, I enter it
> and the root terminal terminates. Never a dull moment in Linux.
> However, I can just su in a regular terminal so no big deal.
> And it asks for the root password elsewhere. So Thanks a lot.
>
> Thank you,
> Norm
You're obviously new around here, so let me clue you in on how
things are done around here.
Rule number 1: always reply, as
well as post, to the list: never to an individual. The only time
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Rule number 2: do not "top post". Instead, use the usenet style
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I spent a fair amount of time re-formatting this message in
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You got that part right. And if it weren't for that I might have
ingored your subsequent post.
For additional rules, see the Debian Mailing list policy:
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OK, now that we have these logistical issues down (I hope) we
can get on to the problem.
> OK, the password issue is solved.
> Thank you,
> Norm
You're welcome.
> Now I open a root terminal
> and it asks for the password, I enter it
> and the root terminal terminates.
Hmm. I've never seen this before. Forgive me for asking a dumb
question, but you didn't click on the "Cancel" button instead of
the "OK" button, did you? That's exactly the behavior I would
expect to see if you clicked on the "Cancel" button. It works
fine for me if I simply hit the Enter key after typing the password
or if I click on the OK button. I wouldn't ask this question,
except that you have already shown a propensity for not paying
too much attention to what is on the screen (like the check box
for "Remember password"). :-)
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