On Tue, 2004-11-16 at 14:58 +0900, Shawn wrote: > HELLO, > > I changed the root password by using: > > MENU --> SYSTEM SETTING --> USERS AND GROUPS > > I was a local user and had to enter the root password to access it of > course. Closed out of it. > > Now when I use MENU --> SYSTEM SETTING --> anything that should ask for > my root password -- it just assumes I have privilege. This is a feature - gnome implemented something like ssh-agent. After entering root password to configure things, gnome keeps the password for you for a short time so that you can make other system changes. If you have the notification area panel applet running, you should see a set of keys icon show up there after you entered root's password. As long as you see that icon, you have access to the system tools from the menu without the entering the password again. You don't have access to root privileges in general, though, as you found, only applications started via gnome. If you're worried about leaving you terminal unattended, you can click on the keys icon and tell it to forget the password. I couldn't find anyway to turn it off or control the timeout (looked at the README, gnome-keyring usage, control panel, registry editor, etc.). You're probably right that this thing is a security risk. -- t. scott urban <scottu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
