On 6/21/2012 9:58 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
Brian wrote:On Thu 21 Jun 2012 at 13:55:49 +0100, Darac Marjal wrote:On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 07:37:52AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:But ;) The new install will not accept root password. User password is fine.That may be intended. I don't think Debian (out of the box) allows root to log in at all. Instead, you're expected to log in as an unprivileged user and then 'upgrade' to root (via sudo - which takes THAT USER'S password).
You're thinking of Ubuntu. Overriding that in Ubuntu is possible, but requires some fiddling and is not generally regarded as worth the effort. (Ubuntu sets the root password hash to an impossible value at install, making root login impossible until you change it. After you do that, all of the various system defaults assume sudo is in charge, and fixing all of that is a real nuisance. Since it isn't necessary, sane people mostly don't bother.)
If you gave root a password during install, then you should
be able to log in at a VT with root, but not via SSH/*DM etc.The installer always presents a screen offering to set a password for root. Leaving the entry field empty disables the root account and sudo is installed.Is there reason to not specify a root password?
In my opinion, no. According to one school of thought, use of sudo does not make the system more secure. However, it can be handy at times. YMMV.
The current situation is a long series of test installations serving two goals: A. understanding the ins and outs of the installation procedure B. eventually deciding just what I want in a final system The laptop serving as a test vehicle: is physically secure will not spend much time connected to the internet the hard drive as part of my experimenting will frequently be reformatted
Root logins can be handy to have at times.