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In the installation guide, running "linuxconf" is explained from running both as root and non-root. If you run as non-root, you are supposed to be able to enter the root password to start. Unfortunately running as non-root is not possible; the linuxconf binary itself has far too restrictive permissions! A discrepancy between documentation and reality like this is _not_ good for newbies. Finally note that the "run as non-root then enter root password" mode may be disabled for (very valid) security reasons.
I have verified this to be true. Running linuxconf as a normal user as stated by the User's Guide fails complaining of permission denied. A list in of the linuxconf binary produces -rwx------ 1 root root 789024 Oct 12 linuxconf
This is an intentional attempt on our part to avoid security holes. I will report this to the documentation department.