Quote:
Originally Posted by dodger666
Never understood why it's unwise...been using Linux for over 20 years & have heard all the arguments(which really, only apply to mission critical systems, not personal home systems), always logged in as root & never had any probs...
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There is no justifiable reason whatsoever to run every single userspace application and command as the root user.
Even a home system can be completely destroyed by shooting-yourself-in-the-foot syndrome.
And any bug or mistyped command no matter how minor has just been given permission to hose the operating system.
Because you know better than to practice really basic separation-of-powers...
It's like driving a car without wearing a seatbelt because "but I'm a good driver!!!"
Also, do you really want Adobe Flash running as the root user?
...
The Windows security model of having people login as the Administrator (full power to do anything and everything, with a halfhearted attempt later on to add a clickthrough warning popup) is 99% of the reason for Windows being the virus-ridden disaster it is. Anything that requires root permissions
should be an explicit act.
Even if you are positive you will never have to deal with buggy software or mistyped commands or applications that make unsafe assumptions when run as the root user or applications that
know darn well they shouldn't run as the root user and refuse to work... automatically assuming the same of others is, once again, just a really really unwise assumption.
tl;dr
find any of the numerous places on the internet that ask and answer this question...
Also consider what other peoples' setup is likely to be.