From owner-freebsd-chat Thu Feb 10 18:31: 5 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from fw.wintelcom.net (ns1.wintelcom.net [209.1.153.20]) by builder.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9496B4647 for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2000 18:31:02 -0800 (PST) Received: (from bright@localhost) by fw.wintelcom.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA00959; Thu, 10 Feb 2000 18:57:48 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 18:57:48 -0800 From: Alfred Perlstein To: "Christopher S. Weimann" Cc: Olaf Hoyer , David Kelly , freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why I Don't Do Linux Message-ID: <20000210185747.G17536@fw.wintelcom.net> References: <4.1.20000211014526.00cc8730@mail.rz.fh-wilhelmshaven.de> <20000210212329.A4718@wallnet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 1.0.1i In-Reply-To: <20000210212329.A4718@wallnet.com>; from cweimann@wallnet.com on Thu, Feb 10, 2000 at 09:23:29PM -0500 Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org * Christopher S. Weimann [000210 18:52] wrote: > On Fri, Feb 11, 2000 at 01:48:29AM +0100, Olaf Hoyer wrote: > > Hi! > > > > With regards to Richard Stallman... I think I remember some lines where he > > said that in a Lab he worked some party decided to take over all the > > computing power, and he finally got it back by patching the kernel... He > > said he'd not known how to do this on a Linux... > > > > The following is from the info page for su. > > > Why GNU `su' does not support the `wheel' group > =============================================== > > (This section is by Richard Stallman.) > > Sometimes a few of the users try to hold total power over all the > rest. For example, in 1984, a few users at the MIT AI lab decided to > seize power by changing the operator password on the Twenex system and > keeping it secret from everyone else. (I was able to thwart this coup > and give power back to the users by patching the kernel, but I wouldn't > know how to do that in Unix.) > > However, occasionally the rulers do tell someone. Under the usual > `su' mechanism, once someone learns the root password who sympathizes > with the ordinary users, he or she can tell the rest. The "wheel > group" feature would make this impossible, and thus cement the power of > the rulers. > > I'm on the side of the masses, not that of the rulers. If you are > used to supporting the bosses and sysadmins in whatever they do, you > might find this idea strange at first. > Or any kind of accountability... http://www.jwz.org/why-cooperation-with-rms-is-impossible.au -Alfred To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message