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"Linux is better thought-out than Windows"

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  • T theoldfool

    The big kids put themselves in the sudoers group. :laugh: Edit: then they type "sudo init 0" (shorter)

    If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.

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    k5054
    wrote on last edited by
    #13

    theoldfool wrote:

    Edit: then they type "sudo init 0" (shorter)

    No, we login as root and type halt. Dang lusers shouldn't be on my machine, anyway. ;)

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    • D dandy72

      ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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      Mark_Wallace
      wrote on last edited by
      #14

      Seems a bit pointless, to me. I mean, why on Earth would anyone ever want to shut down a computer?

      I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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      • M Mark_Wallace

        Seems a bit pointless, to me. I mean, why on Earth would anyone ever want to shut down a computer?

        I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

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        PIEBALDconsult
        wrote on last edited by
        #15

        Two words: Memory leaks. The MicroVAX 3600 I managed while in college would crash on Tuesday unless I had rebooted it on Friday.

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        • M Mike Hankey

          VMS Rocks!

          I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too! JaxCoder.com

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          Ravi Bhavnani
          wrote on last edited by
          #16

          Hear, hear! /ravi

          My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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          • R Ravi Bhavnani

            Hear, hear! /ravi

            My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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            Mike Hankey
            wrote on last edited by
            #17

            Spent many years on VAX machines, they were/are awesome!

            I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too! JaxCoder.com

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            • P PIEBALDconsult

              Two words: Memory leaks. The MicroVAX 3600 I managed while in college would crash on Tuesday unless I had rebooted it on Friday.

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              Ravi Bhavnani
              wrote on last edited by
              #18

              Hmm... when I worked at DEC, the uVAX II under my desk ran for months on end without a reboot.  And when I did reboot it, it was to install an OS or tool upgrade. /ravi

              My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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              • R Ravi Bhavnani

                Hmm... when I worked at DEC, the uVAX II under my desk ran for months on end without a reboot.  And when I did reboot it, it was to install an OS or tool upgrade. /ravi

                My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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                PIEBALDconsult
                wrote on last edited by
                #19

                Indeed. And later I worked with AlphaServer systems that ran for years without even needing to have our product restarted. I fear the college was running some sub-par third-party software.

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                • D dandy72

                  ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                  Super Lloyd
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #20

                  I suspect if you run the UI remotely it will prompt for a password....

                  A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

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                  • D dandy72

                    ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #21

                    that's from the console - it's then assumed that it's either a single user machine or locked up in a server room - so that user accessing the command should have a clue or two what they're choosing to do. running the gui remotely normally* doesn't allow root operations (* - of course there are hoops that if correctly arranged and jumped through that can change) sudo is only for children and below* (* - people that really should just stay on windows)

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                    • D dandy72

                      ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                      Lost User
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #22

                      dandy72 wrote:

                      "Linux is better thought-out than Windows"

                      You should read "the old new thing" a bit.

                      Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.

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                      • D dandy72

                        Not sure if this is a trick question or not. Why wouldn't it?

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                        Munchies_Matt
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #23

                        Just wondering why there would be a difference. Mind you you need sudo to do a command line package install, but you dont through the ubuntu app.

                        Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • M Munchies_Matt

                          Just wondering why there would be a difference. Mind you you need sudo to do a command line package install, but you dont through the ubuntu app.

                          Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
                          Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
                          Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #24

                          I'm using Fedora, and the UI too asks me for su credentials before install...

                          "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018

                          "It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox

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                          • D dandy72

                            ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                            megaadam
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #25

                            My UI always prompts me for a password if I try to do "big stuff". The UI is calling the underlying commands. Your behaviour I never saw. My guess is that you have the passwd saved somewhere in the UI.

                            "If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"

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                            • M Mike Hankey

                              VMS Rocks!

                              I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too! JaxCoder.com

                              Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
                              Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
                              Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #26

                              And somewhere in 2020 we will have (or not?!) a version supporting Intel CPUs... So we can dump Linux and Windows too...

                              "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018

                              "It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox

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                              • D dandy72

                                ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                                realJSOP
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #27

                                The commandline is available to any process running under any account, and therefore it's wise in that instance to ask for credentials before shutting down (guards against remote shutdown). The UI, on the otherhand requires the user to be sitting there, and shutting down is a deliberate act, thus, no credntials required. I'm not sure, but requiring credentials before shutting down via the UI might be subject to a a system setting. I don't know for surem, but it's something to investigate if you are so inclined.

                                ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
                                -----
                                You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
                                -----
                                When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

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                                • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                                  And somewhere in 2020 we will have (or not?!) a version supporting Intel CPUs... So we can dump Linux and Windows too...

                                  "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018

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                                  kalberts
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #28

                                  Wasn't the source code for VMS released to the public a few years ago? Then I guess it would just to rewrite the HAL - VMS was ported to both the Alpha chip and Itanium, so they probably have defined some useful hardware abstractions ... and Wikipedia also claims that "a port to the x86-64 architecture is underway". Wikipedia says that OpenVMS is closed source(!), but the section "Hobbyist programs" suggests that it is open for hobbyist and non-commercial use. So even if my memory is wrong about it being made "fully open" fairly recently, you could at least call it "ajar software" :-)

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                                  • P PIEBALDconsult

                                    Two words: Memory leaks. The MicroVAX 3600 I managed while in college would crash on Tuesday unless I had rebooted it on Friday.

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                                    kalberts
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #29

                                    Side tracking a little: Raymond Chen, in his delightful book "The old new thing" (based on his equally delightful blog of the same name, [^]) he tells about this web server that just had to be available 24/7, but some memory leak made it crash every now and then, every few days. To keep the service running while they debugged the software, they replaced the server with a small cluster and a load balancer: Whenever one of the machines were reaching memory saturation, it was taken out of the cluster and rebooted. In the meantime, the other machine served the users. Later, the other cluster node would be the one to be taken out and rebooted while the first served the customers. They did find the memory leak, and the installation could go back to single server operation. (There was no need to run a cluster for performance reasons.) Thumbs up for "The old new thing", both book and blog! The book is fun, but you can actually learn a whole lot from it, especially about legacy and backwards compatibility. (And especially if you just completed your degree and have very limited experience in the commercial world.)

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                                    • D dandy72

                                      ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                                      Nathan Minier
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #30

                                      Well, first, if you install a graphical UI on a system that runs production-critical tasks, you're doing it wrong. Second, the UI systems I've seen use dmesg to bypass the normal IO flow, and assign permissions to grant permissions to the UI, not the user, to perform tasks such as shutdown and network configuration. It does this specifically so the system can have base-level users that don't want to get into the system administration game. If you don't want to UI to have those permissions....remove those permissions. It's not terribly hard, and it's generally not an oversight.

                                      "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor

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                                      • D dandy72

                                        ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                                        TheRaven
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #31

                                        Amazing observation; more than an oversight, it's an issue most likely avoided as I'm certain that (OP), myself and many others have seen this and wandered what the deal is. DE and DM software generally run in a SuDo style mode with certain privileges one of which is shutdown & restart among others. One reason (or several actually) that most old hand system administrators prefer to run Linux & BSD systems via the prompt rather than installing anything like a GUI desktop environment --security concerns, stability (some apps may not function correctly without special privileges) and most times GUI clutters their workspace. Anyway, Linux like any other operating system is subject to developer over sight else we wouldn't need security patches and new kernels. Additionally, Linux is not better thought out than Windows it is implemented in a way that the particular distribution is laid out logically if anything. Windows on the other hand could still benefit from better directory structure and more "in-your-face" security and systems management for those whom not a current copy of the contemporary Windows System Administrator Guide on hand. Neither O.S. is close to perfect and the sooner everyone accepts the fact the sooner things can get rolling again toward better security and stability --right after we get away from Intel's Spectre-Meltdown platform (makes you wander if Intel isn't in anti-virus software investment portfolio somewhere in the shadows, hunh)... Good article regardless.

                                        I was unaware of that...

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                                        • D dandy72

                                          ...but if that's the case, some things are definitely falling through the cracks. On many distributions, if I try to shutdown the system at a command prompt (typically with "shutdown -P 0"), I'm told I have to run sudo and I'm prompted for a password. Great feature, you wouldn't want any dumbass you share your computer with to be able to bring it down without showing he's got at least *some* amount of authority. Yet that same user can select Shutdown from the UI, and it'll happily comply without prompting for anything else (or at most, a confirmation prompt). If this was some sort of oversight, it would've been addressed years ago, no?

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                                          kalberts
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #32

                                          I don't know where you got that subject line from, but... Linux is a Unix clone; its architecture is a carbon copy of Unix. And Unix was never planned, designed. The *nix process concept was a created as a mechanism to let the space ships of the Space Invasion game to come increasingly closer while you were scratching your head. The shell is the Space Invasion command interpreter loop. They needed a language for programming the whole thing, and threw up a number of language constructs in a messy pile - C is the most explisitly non-designed language that I have ever come across. And it shows! I would be curious to know where this "though-out" is found. Most of the thinking has been spent on "How shall we clean up this terrible mess?" To some degree, the question has been evaded by stating "That is not our problem" (e.g. higher level protocols, file system structures, synchronization, shared data, user identification) - keep it simple; if it simpler than necessary, claim that it improves clarity! Slowly, a few mechanisms crept in: Existence of a file was replaced by a binary semaphore (so that we didn't have to worry about concepts such as critical regions and monitors...), we got .so libraries, and if you were an expert, you could set up segments of the data segment as shared. X.11 could be patched on top to give the illusion of event-driven system design - but worked only for the mouse and keyboard. Exception handling was kludged onto the C language, and so was OO. For threads we had several years with competing kludges. I never saw a speck of "design" work behind the *nix operating system, and very little in the activities closely related to it (such as the C language and communication protocols). For some protocols, the IETF simply had to make major cleanups, e.g. in the SMTP protocol and a number of others, and it is clear for everybody to see that all the old critisisms of "non-*nix-style" starndardization work becomes increasingly appliccable to *nix and TCP/IP protocols standardization.

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