Heads up for Ubuntu users...

[Oren]

Ubuntu has just released a recommended upgrade that will temporarily give the status of "super-user" (or root) to certain programs (unspecified), so that they can do their work without bothering you to "ok" a step that can fundamentally alter the condition of your operating system.

I'm not a Unix/Linux expert, but as I understand it, the safety and stability of a Linux operating system is due largely  to the fact that all programs must ask permission before going ahead with a critical adjustment to the system.

Does this new "upgrade" sound a bit suspicious to anyone but me?

[kara]

This is a real bad idea in my opinion...
No 'normal' user should have root user right, if for some reason you need root rights, you ask for them and give a root password.
Bad practise this is.... 

k

[Oren]

My original information was incomplete...

The upgrade is called "sudo" and will...."provide limited super user privileges to specific users".

Does this still seem unwise 

[folderol]

sudo is quite well known and a battle rages all across the FOSS world about it's appropriateness and use.

Personally I don't like it. User programs simply should not need admin priviledges. There are exceptions such as jack, but these are best assigned to a group that has limited and well defined root access.

Ubuntu already uses sudo quite a lot (there is no root user as such) so this is really just an upgrade to an existing utility.

Ubuntu works in a similar way to WindowsXP in that the first user you set up is automatically an 'admin' user - most people then never bother to set up a second 'normal' user, so are always working with admin right, and therefore any programs they run also have such rights.

If you have a proper root set-up then every time you, as a normal user, want to run a program that needs root access you have to enter the root password). This isolation makes it much harder for a rogue program to trash the system (sudo only requires your user password, and in some setups no password at all.

[Oren]

Yes, in Ubuntu, a user signs on with user name and password, and then when a restricted procedure is requested, the computer asks the user to re-enter the original password.

If this "sudo" upgrade is just an improvement on an existing feature, installing it will not be the drastic maneuver I had suspected it to be. Further research may be wise, just to be fully informed....