Understanding the Linux Root

Posted by Zac on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Zac
Published on 2011-01-03T14:07:15Z Indexed on 2011/01/03 15:56 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 383

Filed under:

linux

|

sysadmin

I've been using Linux (Ubuntu) for about 2 weeks now and am still struggling with some basic concept surrounding the root user:

(1) Some terminal operations (such as making subdirectories inside a FHS directory such as /opt) require me to prefix the command with sudo - why? I guess what I'm choking on is: if I'm already logged in as a valid system user, why do I have to be a superuser/root in order to modify things that the sysadmin has already deemed me worthy of accessing?

(2) Is there a GUI (Gnome, KDE) equivalent to sudo? Is there a way to assume a superuser role through a graphical context, rather than from inside a new shell?

(3) I can't access the /root directory logged in as myself... but I installed the system to begin with and was never asked to create a root account! How do I log in as root and gain access to /root?!?

Thanks for all feedback & input!

© Server Fault or respective owner

Understanding the Linux Root

Posted by Zac on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Zac
Published on 2011-01-03T14:07:15Z Indexed on 2011/01/03 16:55 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 383

Filed under:

linux

|

sysadmin

I've been using Linux (Ubuntu) for about 2 weeks now and am still struggling with some basic concept surrounding the root user:

(1) Some terminal operations (such as making subdirectories inside a FHS directory such as /opt) require me to prefix the command with sudo - why? I guess what I'm choking on is: if I'm already logged in as a valid system user, why do I have to be a superuser/root in order to modify things that the sysadmin has already deemed me worthy of accessing?

(2) Is there a GUI (Gnome, KDE) equivalent to sudo? Is there a way to assume a superuser role through a graphical context, rather than from inside a new shell?

(3) I can't access the /root directory logged in as myself... but I installed the system to begin with and was never asked to create a root account! How do I log in as root and gain access to /root?!?

Thanks for all feedback & input!

© Super User or respective owner

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