10.13.2 supplemental update & root account

[Bjarne D Mathiesen]

Jan Stary wrote:
> I don't get it. 10.13.2 does _not_ have a root account by default? Why?
> And if it does, how is that a problem? It's UNIX, of course there is
> a 'root' account.

macOS out-of-the-box has a de-activated root account; eg you can't log
in as root or ssh into the box as root. The root account exists but in a
dormant state and is accessed though sudo from admin accounts.

One of the things I do on my boxes is activating the root account; and
in some cases removing the other admin accounts, so I've only got root
and users. Now, if the root account is de-activated you have no way of
administering the box - even with sudo at normal user accounts can't use
sudo.

Also if you have scrips that eg ssh into the box from the outside, this
will completely thow off your setup.

-- 
Bjarne D Mathiesen
Korsør ; Danmark ; Europa
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denne besked er skrevet i et totalt M$-frit miljø
macOS 10.13.2 High Sierra (17C205)
2 x 3,46 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon ; 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB