From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 12 15:46:40 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2EA1F106568D for ; Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:46:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (gizmo.acns.msu.edu [35.8.1.43]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CFFE38FC20 for ; Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:46:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id m2CFkwvr006733; Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:46:58 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: (from jerrymc@localhost) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id m2CFkwbP006732; Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:46:58 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jerrymc) Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:46:58 -0400 From: Jerry McAllister To: Bill Moran Message-ID: <20080312154658.GA6696@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <47D7CE4E.7030508@alshome.be> <20080312095238.35d257d2.wmoran@potentialtech.com> <20080312151922.GC6354@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> <20080312112736.47c2c4b5.wmoran@potentialtech.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20080312112736.47c2c4b5.wmoran@potentialtech.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i Cc: Jerry McAllister , bsd.luigi@alshome.be, freebsd-questions Subject: Re: Superuser password lost X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:46:40 -0000 On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 11:27:36AM -0400, Bill Moran wrote: > In response to Jerry McAllister : > > > On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 09:52:38AM -0400, Bill Moran wrote: > > > > > In response to Luigi : > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > Maybe it's a simple question but i'm a newbie lost in my new BSDworld. > > > > > > > > I've installed PC-BSD but when I want to install a software, It ask me a > > > > superuser password. > > > > I think I lost this password. How can I retrieve this superuser password ? > > > > > > This is a PC-BSD-specific question. There is no such thing as "the > > > superuser" ... it's a colloquialism frequently used by folks to make > > > things sound cooler (or for some other reason I don't understand) > > > > I don't understand this response. Superuser is just another > > name for the root user which is any user id with a UID of 0. > > No. The term "superuser" is a made-up term for any way of gaining > root privs. In my experience it's confusing as there are two > commonly used methods for doing this, the su command and sudo, and > they require different passwords. I have never seen the term used that way. I have seen su and sudo referred to as ways of a non-root id gaining superuser priviledge/root priviledge but not a superuser as someone who is not root, but has a method of gaining root priviledge. Anyway, the OP sounds mostly like root is what was needed. ////jerry > > Frankly, I don't know whether PC-BSD is asking for the root password > or asking for him to confirm _his_ password for use in a sudo-like > operation. I don't know of anywhere in the FreeBSD base system > that the term "superuser" is used, so I assume he'll get a more > direct answer from the PC-BSD folks. > > > I haven't used PC-BSD flavor, but in general, with BSDs you force > > them to boot - by killing power if necessary, but a clean shutdown > > is better (but that usually requires root). > > The instructions you give are only correct if it's the root > password he lost. It's likely you're right and this will get him > up and running again, but I didn't know that for sure and didn't want > to lead him down a bunch of steps only to find out that it was asking > for something different. > > I was curious about the PC-BSD community and checked their web site. > Based on what I saw, the best advice to me seemed to be to direct him > to them. > > -- > Bill Moran > http://www.potentialtech.com