Re: text-only login is root?

[post id <postid@att.net>]

--- On Thu, 10/21/10, David Jardine <david@jardine.de> wrote:

> From: David Jardine <david@jardine.de>
> Subject: Re: text-only login is root?
> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> Cc: postid@att.net
> Date: Thursday, October 21, 2010, 10:45 PM
> Could you please wrap your lines (70
> or so characters per line)?  It 
> makes it easier to read and to reply to.

Sorry about that. I can't find a setting with this web mail
that affects line length. I'll do manual carriage returns until
I find a solution.

> 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 02:49:03PM -0700, post id wrote:
> > I've set up a minimal system on one of my machines and
> used no login 
> > manager -- I login at the prompt and type startx to
> start the 
> > graphical session. Now I read a claim that if one
> didn't use a login 
> > manager to log in and start X, then one  was logging
> in with root 
> > privileges. 
> 
> Where did you read that nonsense?

I stumbled across it as I was reading howtos on installations
on the Internet.

> 
> >         
>    That doesn't appear to be true since I
> don't seem to have 
> > root privileges, although when I do ctrl-alt-f1 I get
> a list of 
> > messages such as "Restore TV PLL," etc. rather than a
> command prompt. 
> 
> You don't get a command prompt because you haven't logged
> out of the 
> X session.  

And since that X session was started in that screen
it's still there running when I do a ctrl+alt+f1.
The login manager doesn't use a screen to start X, so
it doesn't show up on a screen, right?

So what's the following that appears on the screen?:
Entering Restore TV
Restore TV PLL
Restore TV HV
Restore TV Restarts
Restore Timing Tables
Restore TV Standard
Leaving Restore TV

This is a laptop with an LCD screen.
Is it trying to drive an external monitor?

> 
> > I don't get that on my other machines running
> graphical login 
> > managers. Do I have a security problem here? If so,
> will just 
> > installing a lightweight login manager (xdm?) cure it
> or do I need to 
> > change some settings somewhere? I'd be thankful for
> advice.
> 
> You have no security problem.  You started X as the
> user who called 
> startx.  You just have to learn how to close your X
> session down 
> properly.
> 
> Cheers,
> David
> 
So how do I shut down X properly? On this laptop I 
usually do "shutdown -h now" from a console when I'm
ready to quit.


Postid