Warning, you are using the root account...

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woodsman
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Joined: 11. Jan 2010, 18:41

Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by woodsman »

When running certain apps as root in Xfce, a red bar appears with the message "Warning, you are using the root account, you may harm your system."

I have been grepping the Xfce source code and cannot find that message. I would be grateful if anybody would help me find this message in the sources.

Thanks.
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thenktor
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Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by thenktor »

Just don't work as root :P :mrgreen:
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mimosa
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Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by mimosa »

That bloodshot eye is cool, though 8-)
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pwatk
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Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by pwatk »

woodsman wrote:When running certain apps as root in Xfce, a red bar appears with the message "Warning, you are using the root account, you may harm your system."

I have been grepping the Xfce source code and cannot find that message. I would be grateful if anybody would help me find this message in the sources.

Thanks.
thenktor's right, it's there for a reason.

You shouldn't use the root account unless you want to perform a specific administrative task! Even then you should su to root from your regular user account.
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sqlpython
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Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by sqlpython »

How about this one?
Gslap running .. start to multitask ...then decide to close Gslap and it does not respond so Ctrl-Esc to bring up Process manager. Attempt to KILL the Gslap processor but a warning appears that You must be root to preform this action.

I signed in as root to start Gslap and Process Manager should ask for a root password when KIlling a process ..not refuse..
Slackware ( Manjaro ) Salix, AntiX, Bunsen, Calculate
woodsman
Posts: 45
Joined: 11. Jan 2010, 18:41

Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by woodsman »

Just don't work as root
Uh, yeah, uh-huh. :)
thenktor's right, it's there for a reason.
His smiley's indicate he was joking. Working as root is not a sin although there are developers of certain distros who act that way. As Salix is derived from Slackware, where users are trusted to know their own limitations, I doubt any Salix developer sincerely never works as root or expects others not to.
Even then you should su to root from your regular user account.
Which still allows me to open an app as root. Sheesh. Are you normally paranoid or only at night? :)

I'm not interesting in removing the bar, just editing the text. I might need to recompile, but I'll cross that bridge later. :)

Based upon some folks responses to working as root, I was thinking of changing the text to the following:

======================
Warning. You are using the root account. We upstream developers provide silly messages like this because we hold all end users in contempt. We think most end users are morons and imbeciles. That likely means you, whomever you are reading this silly message in a red bar. If you need to perform administrative tasks, then please contact a qualified Windows IT person and don't use this app anymore under the root account.
======================
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maximus
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Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by maximus »

Personally I don't see the problem with the red bar or the text it contains, but http://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2890 might interest you. It doesn't explain how to change the text but might point you in the right direction, it explains how to patch thunar to remove the message altogether. It's dated from 2007 however, so who knows if the method still works. But it does look like recompiling thunar would be necessary.
woodsman
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(Solved) Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by woodsman »

Solved. :)

I was under the impression the message would be universal, like in a single header file. But that is not the case. Seems the only place the message appears is in thunar and mousepad.

So far I have found the message only in those respective *.po files. After compiling they appear in the /usr/share/locale/ *.mo files.
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gapan
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Re: Warning, you are using the root account...

Post by gapan »

woodsman wrote:As Salix is derived from Slackware, where users are trusted to know their own limitations, I doubt any Salix developer sincerely never works as root or expects others not to.
You're wrong. This subject has been beaten to death before. Search the forums if you want, nothing new to say here, you already got your replies anyway. Since you have also found the solution to your "problem" I'm closing this thread.
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