[plug] Accidental reboot

[Bret Busby]

On 10/05/2011, Brad Campbell <brad at fnarfbargle.com> wrote:
> On 10/05/11 15:38, Bret Busby wrote:
>> On 10/05/2011, Brad Campbell<brad at fnarfbargle.com>  wrote:
>
>>> Put together a quick /usr/local/bin/reboot
>>> #!/bin/bash
>>> echo Surprise!
>>>
>>> Problem solved. Why did it take me so long to think of it?
>>>
>>
>> I find it simpler to avoid using sudo.
>>
>> It is the devil's tool.
>>
>
> Half the time I su -c and get a root shell.
>
> The problem remains the same unless you can explain to me in very small
> words how I can update some root owned configuration files and remotely
> reboot a machine from an xterm without acquiring root privileges of some
> sort.
>
> I'm more than prepared to change my ways if appropriately enlightened.
>

I am no Linux Guru.

I am at the level of simple (with the emphasis on simple) user.

I use primarily a GUI, and in Debian 5, to reboot, I select System ->
Shutdown -> Reboot.

If I am working at the command line, I use

$ su - root

# shutdown -r now

I think the prompt symbols are the correct ones, but am not sure.

If I am using the dreaded Ubuntu (to which I will apparently have to
shift, when Debian stops supporting Debian 5, as Debian 6  apparently
does not include drivers, or something similar designed to make
installation and operation more difficult), I click on some weird
symbol that takes me to similar options to the System -> Shutdown
options.

It is not for me to tell you how to do what you want to do - I believe
that you are more knowledgeable than me.

But I regard sudo like I regard remote central locking on cars -
designed to cause unauthorised access.

So, while I cannot avoid remote central locking on relatively modern
cars, I can avoid sudo, for the present, anyway, as I regard sudo as a
system security eating disease, like a flesh eating disease.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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