can't SU or login as root

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Ok, I can't get into root access using SU or login. Do I have to do something special to setup the root account? When I setup my computer it asked me for the admin password and I entered it, which always works fine for apps that require the admin password. I'm not sure how much more specific I can get other than that I can't SU.
 
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nevermind, I found a writeup on it. I didn't know I had to use the netinfo manager to enable root.
 

rman


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As a safety precaution root is not enabled. A regular user would not know about it or need it. As you learn more about the system and Unix, you may want to enable it. In the hand of a new user to the system, you can destroy everthing.
 
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Also SU in Linux is SUDO in OS X. And I'm sure you know to be careful, but it does prompt you for admin password
 

rman


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su and sudo are two different commands. su is switch user, some people call it super user. When you use su, you are that user until you log out. An example of su is:

su - rman -- I am logging in as the user rman.
su -- I am logging as the root user.

The sudo command is user to give a user limited root access, usually either for 5 minutes or the use of one command. Depending on how it is configured.

An example of sudo is:

sudo /etc/daily
 
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I've used Linux for a few years here and there. The concept of a *nix environment isn't new to me, just the way apple has implemented it.
 
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rman: thanks for adding the correct details! :)
 
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dr_springfield

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if you're staying in the terminal, just use "sudo -s", which is effectively very similar to "su root", and works out of the box, without any netinfo tomfoolery.
 
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hi all,

I am searching info about the relationship between Unix (BSD) and OS X; I mean I d'like to know how deep is unix implemented in the OS X.
Using OS X just as I do under Linux it's quite difficult to me ( clicking here and there and I don't know what happening in the background).
 
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OS X is based on FreeBSD, and a derivation of Nextstep OS. On this is built the awesome GUI Aqua. The result speaks for itself! :)
 
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MoltenLava

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sudo is not new. sudo has been around with BSD for ten years or more.

sudo is preferrable to the root account for several reasons. In order to use root account, its password has to be known. If ten users on the system wants to be root, those ten people have to know the root password. It can easily get out of hand and get compromised.

sudo, on the other hand, is completely based on each user. You don't need to know anybody else's password. You use your password to gain root access. It's easy to give and take away root access to the users.

On a personal computer like Mac, it may not matter that much whether to use root account or sudo. sudo is still more convenient because you don't need to know extra password.
 

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