uninstalling programs

[Clinton MacDonald]

Greg:

Greg Hamilton wrote:
>> Unfortunately, there are problems with "sudo."
>> [...]
> 
> sudo is enabled by default, there just aren't any users in the sudoers 
> file. You are quite correct in saying that a barrier to it's use is 
> knowing that it exists and knowing how to configure it. A bit easier in 
> OS X where the first user account created has 'Admin' rights ie. they're 
> in the sudoers file and can create new accounts and bestow admin rights 
> on other accounts.

You are right in your assessment of sudo, and I apologize for being so 
quick to criticize.

I assume that Yellow Dog leaves the sudoers file unpopulated because 
that is how Red Hat Linux does it. Is that true? I wonder what is the 
policy in the new Fedora incarnations?

In any case, if we ever manage to compile a Frequently Asked Questions 
document for this mailing list, we should put sudo and its enabling at 
the very top.

> sudo is much more interesting than it might first appear. It doesn't 
> just allow you to run individual commands as root, you can configure it 
> to allow specific users to run specific commands as other users with or 
> without password authentication.

Whoa. Cool, I didn't know that. I imagine that would be useful for 
giving trusted users limited administrator rights.

> 
>> <http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/solutions/ydl_general/yum.shtml>
>>
>> Second, in my experience, "sudo" *fails* inexplicably in some 
>> circumstances. This may be some weirdness in my setup. [...]
> 
> I've never seen or heard of this before. Something is seriously borken 
> there.

Yes, I think something is "borken" (that may have been a typo on your 
part, but I like it a lot). It's a cross I will have to bear until I 
discover some pattern to its appearances.

> The message 'mount: only root can do that' comes from mount.

Yeah, I know. It's as if it doesn't see the "sudo" part of the command. 
Weird.

Keep up the good work!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>