Programs with a graphical user interface, as opposed to programs that only output text on the terminal window.vladtepes wrote:Perhaps for the sake of clarity you could more precisely define what you mean by "graphical programs" please?
(Do you mean any programs that have a GUI, and if so why would you be running these from the command line anyway?)
Sometimes you may need to run a graphical program as root, for example your file manager to be able to move files in system directories. You could start such a program from the terminal with a command like "gksudo program" to run it as root. Unfortunately some people obliviously use, or recommend others to use, "sudo program" to run graphical programs as root. As explained above, using "sudo program" to run a graphical program as root can change ownership of files in your how directory to root, which can then lead to problems if you run the program normally (not as root). See the forums for examples
This topic summarizes the differences and can be linked to as explanation.