Bug 472991

Summary:	Unable login as a superuser
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	markm <marek78uk>
Component:	gdm	Assignee:	jmccann
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	10	CC:	cschalle, jmccann, rstrode
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2008-12-01 15:45:56 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description markm 2008-11-25 22:51:57 UTC

Description of problem:

When I first start newest Fedora, I like to do some maintenance tasks logged as root, latest version of Fedora does not allow me to do so. 

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

Fedora 10 installed from the iso DVD.

How reproducible:

always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Fedora 10
2. Restart it
3. Login as root
  
Actual results:

gdm says “unable to authenticate user”

Expected results:

root user being logged in with a warning message (as it used to be in Fedora 8/9)

Additional info:

a dirty solution is to boot with “3” added to kernel params, then login as root and startx - but why do I need to do that? why making people's life difficult?

Comment 1 Ray Strode [halfline] 2008-12-01 15:45:56 UTC

Hi,

This policy is configurable.  See the file, 

/etc/pam.d/gdm

The default is to not allow root because

1) a lot of things don't function correctly in a root environment (screen lock, irc clients, certain policykit security policies), and there are some security implications.

2) a lot of things that have traditionally required root don't anymore.