doktor5000 wrote:badsector wrote:I'm not using any tools, that would presume that I picked one up.
You don't seem to understand the authentication at all. Tool in this case means one of the polkit authentication agents, and yes, you're using one of those, as they are installed by default.
badsector wrote:Anyway since nothing and no-one in Linux is supposed to (last I heard) overrule root ...
Wherever you heard that, it is not correct. Root can overrule himself, and there are mechanisms to even restrict root.
Also your proposal to always require root password is probably a really good idea.
The restrictions erected against root are another one of my favorite topics but that's another realm altogether, my attitude begins and ends with 'whose computer is this?'
As for requiring root password for everything, that may or may not be a good idea, I don't claim to have the answer to that but I certainly see no point in a user who has logged-in and has provided a password to have to repeat that again during the session. Regardless, any dialog should be CLEAR about what it's asking for
Supply ROOT password or
Supply password for user SoAndSo or
Supply YOUR user password
If it so happens that the ambiguity arises from some polkit design-inadequacy than the polkit devs should fix it. If it were up to me I simply would not install the polkit package at all.
I repeat that all novices and most users coming face-to-face with the terminology for the first time do NOT know the difference beween authorization and authentication.