Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:10:08 -0500 From: "Crist J. Clark" <cjc@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com> To: Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com> Cc: Harry Woodward-Clarke <Harry.Woodward-Clarke@S1.com>, Robert Fulford <jbstrt@alltel.net>, FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: toor reference in The Complete FreeBSD Message-ID: <20000316211008.B64407@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003161950310.50414-100000@ren.sasknow.com>; from ryan@sasknow.com on Thu, Mar 16, 2000 at 07:56:28PM -0600 References: <38D18F13.4A3B7A90@S1.com> <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003161950310.50414-100000@ren.sasknow.com>
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On Thu, Mar 16, 2000 at 07:56:28PM -0600, Ryan Thompson wrote: > Harry Woodward-Clarke wrote to Robert Fulford: > > > Hiya Robert, > > > > > I am learning to use FreebSD for the first time, and saw a short > > > reference about toor... > > > i would like to find the page where i saw it....does anyone know offhand > > > what page it > > > is on? It was about removing toor, i believe...(3rd edition) > > > > Hmm... > > > > I just grep'd the book, and only found a reference to 'toor' in chapter > > 32 (Electronic Mail). > > > > Likewise the Handbook only has comments about setting the password for > > toor, nothing about removing it (15.3.1., point 5) > > > > If I recall correctly, removing 'toor' is not a 'good idea'. > > ``toor'' is simply another user with uid=gid=0. Most often, it can be > used as an alternate way to gain access to the system if the root password > is compromised/altered/forgotten. (That is, if you know toor's password > :-) Historically, it has been used for other purposes, as well. The most common reason for having it was when only the root partition was available (in single user mode), it was good to have the root use have a shell of /bin/sh or /bin/csh. The other user, toor, could have a fancier shell like /usr/local/bin/bash or /usr/local/bin/tcsh (something that requires /usr to be mounted). Thus the default name it gets, "Bourne Again User," as in bash, "Bourne Again Shell." However, since FreeBSD always prompts for a shell to use going into single user mode, it is _almost_ moot. Personally, I keep one with a 'basic' shell on machines when my /var/mail is NFS mounted. The fancy shells will try to check for mail and hang up if there are network problems. -- Crist J. Clark cjclark@home.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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