su -

[espn]

Anybody can give me any insight why I can't do a 'su -' on my PB?

I wanted to edit the '/etc/xinetd.d/ftp' yet when I open it with VI, I get a 'File is read-only' warning. I had to click here, there, here, then finally get into the GUI and change to allow FTP.

My administrator password won't work. Any ideas?

[timgoh0]

That's because the root account is disabled by default. This is A Good Thing.

Use the
sudo <command>
 command instead.

[victorp]

Actually, you can...try

sudo su -

but of course be careful!

[espn]

Oh, the root account is disabled, didn't know that, thought the installation discs locked up the account with a password only apple engineers know.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm too used to running as root on my unix systems that I feel kinda disabled when I can't do that on my PB 

[timgoh0]

You CAN enable the root account via netinfo manager, but this is not recommended as it creates an account in which anyone can log in to gain superuser privileges.

[espn]

Yeah I know your concerns, now battling with myself to see to use root at all or just carry on as per normal.

Thanks for the heads up

[carrot^]

or you can do a sudo passwd root and change the password and then do a su root.

[sao]

.

I really see no need to 'su' to 'root'. By the way, using passwd to change the password doesn't affect NetInfo database. To change the root password, you need to use NetInfo Manager. Anyhow, when logged in as an admin user and 'root' access is needed, it's always better to use 'sudo'. And if you need to extend root access, you could always start a new shell with 'sudo -s'.

.

[pccmaster]

That's because the root account is disabled by default. This is A Good Thing.

Use the
sudo <command>
 command instead.

This is true. A common horror story of "su -" or "sudo -s" is accidentally executing "rm -rf /" as a superuser instead of "rm -rf /the/folder/I/wanna/delete". If it was a normal user, the damage is controlled.