On Thu, 2005-12-01 at 21:46 -0500, Claude Jones wrote: > On Thu December 1 2005 9:31 pm, Mike McCarty wrote: > > Claude Jones wrote: > > > Subject line says it all... > > > > Define "change a user's name". What is a user on a computer > > with a different name? Isn't that a different user? > > Are you asking whether other users may have the same privilege > > as root? > > The answer is "Yes". > > > > Let me put it differently. Root's UID is 0 - suppose I change UID 0's User > Login to 'doorknob' - first, can this be done? Yes > Second, would I have to create > a new home directory called 'doorknob'? Maybe. Depends on what the home directory is in /etc/passwd > Third, are there any implications, > doing this, for other software and/or settings in a Linux PC? Yes, MANY things depend on the user root. As I said earlier, some things depend on the actual name of "root" such as mail. Also the system-config-xxxxx utilities, because console helper has to be able to authenticate the user to the root password. > Fourth - if > this shouldn't be done, can a new user, say UID 15, be created with all the > same privileges as root, The only way users get the same privileges as root is to have UID=0 > and can root then be purged? NO, someone with root privileges ( UID=0 & GID=0 ) must exist or you will loose abilities to do some tasks. In order to totally remove root from the system you will need to do a lot of research and probably modify a lot of different programs to look for something other than root. Some things look for UID and others depend on the name. > > -- > Claude Jones > Bluemont, VA, USA >
