Re: Filenames in Ada

[Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen)]

In article <m2bqzf4q3q.fsf@grendel.local>, Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org> writes:
> Martin Krischik <krischik@users.sourceforge.net> writes:
> 
>> I permanently have a root console open on my system and when I use a
>> Linux system where I don't have the root password I feel like a
>> cripple.
>>
>> I don't feel that way on VMS - there is a SET PRIVILEGE command
>> there.
> 
> I don't see the difference between SET PRIV and sudo, really (of
> course SET PRIV has all that feature set re: AUTHPRIV etc!)

I do not know what "sudo" is, but VMS people who have seen Unix systems
say that a considerable difference is that VMS users can be restricted
in the set of privileges to which they have access.  The apparent set of
43 privileges or so should not be taken at face value, but instead one
should (gasp) actually read the documentation and see how those 43 are
divided into 7 "categories" (actually levels) according to how much
damage they could do to the system.  But even within a single level,
making distinctions regarding which privileges are enabled does protect
against some inadvertent cockpit errors.

Of course a major strength of SET PRIVILEGE, as distinguished from
logging into the SYSTEM username, is that auditing is according to
individual username so that actions can be tied back to a real person.
I would hope the same is provided on Unix.