Re: Root, sudo and installing packages [WAS Re: user is not in the suder's file]
K0LNY ?? wrote:
> Using other distros, like Ubuntu and Raspbian, I would get tired of typing
> sudo in front of everything, so I would just do sudo su and become root for
> everything, so I wouldn't have to constantly be reminded that as a regular
> user, I can't do something, and I had been told that installing things as
> root will cause problems.
> I was told that if I install things as root, that another package may not
> have permissions to use something I installed as root.
Being root means having root privileges active; that can happen from
several different methods:
- logging in as root
- running su
- running sudo
- running doas
- booting the system and interrupting the boot in a particular
way
In all cases, you then have root privileges, either for the length of
a session or for one command. Installing OS packages -- at least on
Debian -- requires root privileges at the time that you do that.
The caution that you should have been given is not "don't install things
as root". You should have been told:
Doing things as root without a good reason will lead to trouble,
because you can cause problems that cannot be recovered from.
sudo is a way of becoming root for just the things you need it for,
so it's safer than staying around as root and doing other things.
Ultimately, it's up to you. You can do anything you want with
it. But if people hear that you were warned against poking the
bear, they may not feel as much desire to rescue you.
-dsr-
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