[Mickey200123456]

Beside logging in as root is there a way I can make myself root. I know the dangers(could it be more dangerous the logging into admin all the time with win2k ?)behind this and am just curious to know if it is possible to do with out logging in as root when asked . I have Redhat 9 btw.

[lynch]

You can assign root permissions to regular users for specific programs through the sudo utility.Here is more about it.
lynch

[Mickey200123456]

Thanks, that sounds like what Im looking for.
Mickey

[codejockey]

You can also use the su command to become another user (including root). You can execute the login procedure of another user by using: su - username (you will be prompted to supply their password). You can become another user, without executing their login procedure, by using: su username (you will be prompted for their password). Yes, the "-" character makes all the difference.

Hope this helps.

[Squashman]

Even if you install Sudo, you still have to change the permissions on SU. We found this out last semester in class. But sudo is definitely the way to go. This will help you track what admin did what if they screw something up.

[singman]

could it be more dangerous the logging into admin all the time with win2k

Yes it can be much dangerous then logging in as admin on a 2k pro box. with Unix/Linux all it takes is simply adding a space where you dont want it and you can delete the entire hdd.

lets say you wanted to delete all files that have .text on the end. you wound run the command rm *.text. lets say that you acidently hit the space key between the '*' and the '.' so you end up with the command rm * .text you would get the message file not found if you are loged in as root. this is because it interprited the space as a seperator char so it deleted everything and then tried to delete the file .text. you would not get any warning messages that you are about to delete everything either.

can you see how it can be dangerous to be loged in as root all the time?