Tagged Questions

1
vote
1answer
65 views

Are there risks installing Dropbox using root on Unix?

I have installed Dropbox to my Unix server via SSH as root. I'm wondering if this was a bad idea as Dropbox is now contained under the the root home folder. Are there any additional security ...
0
votes
0answers
48 views

Can someone put some restriction to copy few files from folder by root in linux

I have the backup script where i was making the tar backup of directory everyday. ON friday i note that my filesize was 30MB but beofrethat it was 200MB. I checked the main folder and it was around ...
0
votes
5answers
426 views

Second root account

i'm new in linux, so i'm sorry if my problem is a bit confusing. I'd like to do following: create a second root account write the file by using this account the first root account shouldn't be able ...
5
votes
3answers
735 views

Why is the dreadful 'rm -rf /' even allowed? [closed]

We all know the destructive power of the following command executed as root: rm -rf / Related questions: How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /' deleting everything: # rm -rf / I fail to ...
60
votes
6answers
29k views

What is the “You have new mail” message in Linux/UNIX?

Sometimes, when I log into a box and 'su' to root, I get a cute little message saying I have mail (thank GOD it's not AOL). Where is this mail? What does it contain? Who/What sent it? How important ...
5
votes
2answers
460 views

Potential issues with adding /usr/local/[s]bin to root's path?

I've noticed that the root account $PATH does not include /usr/local/bin or /usr/local/sbin by default. Are there any potential issues that could arise from adding those directories to the path? If ...
10
votes
3answers
8k views

UNIX - mount: only root can do that

I need to allow a non-root user to mount/unmount a device. I am a total noob when it comes to UNIX, so please dumb it down for me. I've been looking all over teh interwebz to find an answer and it ...
6
votes
4answers
4k views

removing write permission does not prevent root from writing to the file

I just noticed on my Ubuntu machine (ext3 filesystem) that removing write permissions from a file does not keep root from writing to it. Is this a general rule of UNIX file permissions? Or specific ...
0
votes
3answers
1k views

Why can't Unix users renice downwards?

I know that non-root users can renice a process up, but not renice a process priority down. $ nice yes >/dev/null & p=$! $ renice 15 -p $p 8414: old priority 10, new priority 15 $ renice 12 ...
2
votes
6answers
973 views

How do I create a new user account on an Ubuntu Hardy server?

logged in as root, environmental variables are great. I typed "set" I did: useradd -m alex su alex For some reason, everything is gone when I type "set". How do I make it so that alex has all the ...