Subj : Re: su on startup
To   : comp.os.linux
From : valindar/\\at/\\ionide/\\dot/\\org
Date : Fri Aug 13 2004 06:16 pm

gnosis wrote:
> I am the only user on my system and I want root capabilities without
> having to login as root.  I want to run su when I login but I dont
> want my password to be in raw text anywhere. Is it possible to input
> the password to su encrypted?
> 
> Thank You and have a nice day.

Remove the root password. If there's only one root user, and if you 
managed to implement what you're suggesting without getting rid of the 
root password, then no matter which user (root/yours) an intruder 
manages to get in as, they'll have root access.
That's probably the only way to do what you want to do, but it's not a 
very good idea to run everything as root. Still, do what you like :)
Once you've removed the password, just typing su should make you root, 
but all files you create will be owned by root... you can't have root 
privledges without being root.

To remove root's password, I presume you would need to open up 
/etc/shadow (or /etc/passwd if you aren't using shadowed passwords [if 
you are, in /etc/passwd there will be x's instead of passwords]) and 
remove the encrypted password from the root users line. I've never tried 
having no password for a user or root, but I'm sure that will work.

Scott

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