Setting up BAMT root access

5

The official BAMT faq says "never use sudo. never never, always log in as root. [emphasis in original]". Is this a BAMT-specific issue, a more general issue with sudo that I should ask about on Super User or Server Fault, or what? I can't find any general complaints warranting this strong a reaction, and I can't find anything BAMT specific. Why, in an application where security is usually important, should I never use a tool which is designed to enhance security and which I've never heard this complaint about before?

Daniel H

Posted 2012-08-20T20:28:58.207

Reputation: 644

And yet on this page they recommend that you use SUDO to set the root password: http://bamter.org/redmine/news/2

– mjcopple – 2012-08-21T16:43:05.813

Answers

1

In the absence of a reason, I'm going to assume it's specific to their distro, and they meant "we only created (and always use) the root account, so our documentation assumes you are logged in as root. We haven't tested for odd corner cases that arise because of subtle differences in the way sudo works".

sudo is considered more secure than logging in as root for a number of reasons. It should always be used on mainstream distros.

But for a tiny USB stick distro (with no ability to login as root over the network), the security benefits of sudo may not be worth the complexity.

BraveNewCurrency

Posted 2012-08-20T20:28:58.207

Reputation: 161

Asked: 2012-08-20T20:28:58.207

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Active: 2016-03-18T19:56:59.420