Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen" [resolved by mintreport 1.1.4]

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Minux1
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by Minux1 »

I’m sure Clem gets his jollies asking LM installers/users to do things for absolutely no reason. :mrgreen:
I set the root password to the same as the user password I created when I installed LM and moved on.
The world didn’t suddenly end ... not even a rumble of thunder.
Pw1exclam

Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by Pw1exclam »

I think you might be missing the point. Speaking for myself, and I assume others, a very large appeal of Linux is that it specifically does NOT nag. I was very disheartened when I saw the little triangle in my system tray, urging me to switch from my current 19.2 to 19.3. Who else had flashbacks to when Windows 8.1 users had to walk a tightrope, to avoid getting "upgraded" (or in my opinion, downgraded) to Windows 10 against their wishes?

So please, I urge you not to minimize the seriousness of this. I realize it doesn't bother everybody, but this feeling is far from universal. I want to thank the poster who mentioned the fix to get rid of System Reports. The day these kinds of options disappear, or the day the nag screens go too far (I can't state exactly where the line is, but I know when I've had enough) is the day I stop using, and supporting, Linux Mint.

Devs - please, please do not go the way of the Evil Empire. I know you need to make a profit to stay afloat, but there are better ways to do this than slowly, sneakily wresting choice and freedom away from the user. Let's discuss and find solutions together.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by Moem »

It's a fine line between nagging and notifying.... in fact they overlap. With every new point release (until 19.3), we get users here on the forum asking why they weren't notified.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by JosephM »

Devs - please, please do not go the way of the Evil Empire. I know you need to make a profit to stay afloat, but there are better ways to do this than slowly, sneakily wresting choice and freedom away from the user. Let's discuss and find solutions together.
I don't understand this part of your statement whatsoever. How is informing a user of an available upgrade in a totally free OS, with totally free (and optional) upgrades, about gaining profits? No freedom is being taken away from anyone. Mint report is simply a way to present information to users.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by Night Wing »

Pw1exclam wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:20 am I think you might be missing the point. Speaking for myself, and I assume others, a very large appeal of Linux is that it specifically does NOT nag. I was very disheartened when I saw the little triangle in my system tray, urging me to switch from my current 19.2 to 19.3. Who else had flashbacks to when Windows 8.1 users had to walk a tightrope, to avoid getting "upgraded" (or in my opinion, downgraded) to Windows 10 against their wishes?

So please, I urge you not to minimize the seriousness of this. I realize it doesn't bother everybody, but this feeling is far from universal. I want to thank the poster who mentioned the fix to get rid of System Reports. The day these kinds of options disappear, or the day the nag screens go too far (I can't state exactly where the line is, but I know when I've had enough) is the day I stop using, and supporting, Linux Mint.
I'm the one who mentioned getting rid of System Reports because of the nag screen. I thought getting rid of the "root thingy", I wouldn't be seeing the nag screen ever again. But, my nag screen came back and this time it wanted me to install the "XApp Status Applet". So I clicked on the Triangle and when System Report appeared and went through it's gyrations, there was nothing about the XApp applet. "No ignore"; "No, I understand". Nothing. All that was there was the prompt stating, "Your system is up to date".

That was "the last and final straw (for me) that broke the camel's back". Since the nag screen is associated with System Report, I hunted for a replacement for the program. I found "hardinfo" which is for the program named, "System Profile & Benchmark".

So I went into the Synaptic Package Manager, found "mintreport" (1.1.3) which is System Report and removed System Report. The result, a permanent fix for the nag screen.

Then, when I was still in the Synaptic Package Manager, I installed "hardinfo" and now the System Profile & Benchmark program sits under the heading, System and which is my replacement for System Report.

I will not tolerate a nag screen which wants me to install something I don't need, like or want. I don't care if this nag screen is the developer's newest crown jewel in (19.3). For me, the newest crown jewel turned out to be "a lump of coal" because of the nag screen and no way to easily disable the nag screen in System Report.

I wasn't going to post in this topic thread I had removed System Report mainly because I didn't want the "slings and arrows from outrageous fortune" coming my way from the other posters who I know will definitely disagree with what I did. But when I saw your post, I decided to tell why I did remove it.

As they say. "To Each, Their Own". BTW, I haven't missed System Report since I removed it.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by JoeFootball »

Sharing that it looks like the "set root password" notification is going to be addressed. From Clem's blog post...
Clem wrote:... but the root password notice confused a huge number of people. I talked to some of our IRC moderators and it’s their number 1 complaint with the new release. We’ll review this and find a solution for it.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by Minux1 »

Hope there’s an answer soon so my fingernails can start growing back. :wink:

*PS ... fantastic job on Tricia ... love the new XFCE desktop
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Re: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by JerryF »

smurphos wrote: Thu Dec 19, 2019 3:44 am Just click I understand....all it does is dismisses the nag screen for good.
...
The System Reports app reports this and I also clicked I understand without a problem.

I found it to be somewhat confusing/annoying because System Reports claims that it's a "problem".
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zcot
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by zcot »

I wanna post too, because I'm a gigantic drama queen.

I never got a "nag screen". I got one initial system report icon with 3 items, and I addresses all 3 of them at once and haven't see the system report icon again.

When a kernel EOL situation occurs, I'm guessing the report tool will tell me.

If some meltdown/spectre thing happens again, I realize this new reporting tool is a great idea for this and maybe it will give me a heads up.

But I'm not gonna push my own imaginary ideas against what it might be or might not be or do, or anything about the future.

If/when this desktop version becomes EOL, maybe it'll tell me about that, even though I'm probably paying attention in other ways on the forum or IRC or Mint blog, but maybe I miss something important? I'll let the report tool let me know, and feel happy about it, because I'm not paranoid, I'm not unappreciative to have it(or any of the mint stuff), and I'm not a negative nelly, and I'm not a crybaby, and I'm not gonna act like a puss either. because wth?

Anyway, to the point, I liked the password report. so make that a positive vote for me.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by JoeBingo »

I like the system reports too. Haven't received any additional System Report notifications since installing 19.3 Mate and dealing with the 3 prompts.

As to the setting of root password, I had what I thought was a weird instance. Before installing 19.3 Mate, I was running 19.2 Mate and Update Manager offered System Reports as an update, which I installed. Thing is, several months ago when I first installed 19.2, I'd already set a root password as suggested in the Easy Linux Tips Project.

So I was super surprised when System Reports suggested setting a root password. And then shocked that it allowed me to enter a root password and accepted it, although admittedly it was the same password I'd applied months earlier. It made me wonder, what the heck actually just happened. Dunno
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by rjsrjs »

Root, shoot it doesn't matter, a good hacker can and will get into ones computer if they want/need to bad enough. It's just to make you feel secure when you're really not.
I can use crtl>alt>F1 and use my regular login password to login.

Any replies on this issue?
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by pbear »

zcot wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 9:01 pm ... I liked the password report. so make that a positive vote for me.
Be fair. You're not a typical user. You understood the report at once. A newbie will not.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by zcot »

pbear wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:20 pm
zcot wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 9:01 pm ... I liked the password report. so make that a positive vote for me.
Be fair. You're not a typical user. You understood the report at once. A newbie will not.
Well, yes, you're right, that's not fair, so not a complete comparison. :oops: (but well sure it is some other part of the whole picture too)

Clem is aware and cares and I'm sure the dev team is bouncing the ideas, and will be tailoring the stuff.

The tool has new features and by the design brings some really cool possibility. But some of the notifications will need to be well thought out in the future. And certainly the verbiage will change on different items.

It was funny some IRC convos went from hey the words might seem deceiving to how can you sum up an entire topic in so few words, to there's not enough room in the app to give a full history and guide of security that would be appropriate to this notification, back 'round to when you give that much info only a smaller portion of users are going to even read it and just end up getting frustrated immediately why would you push so much responsibility when i just want to use the system and it just works and i don't have to deal with this stuff.

that's a real paradox of this exact root password report.

But many other reports won't be such an issue, and hopefully in the future there are no more reports causing dudes to climb out on the 19th story window ledge.
gm10

Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by gm10 »

zcot wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:08 am Clem is aware and cares and I'm sure the dev team is bouncing the ideas, and will be tailoring the stuff.
He had been made aware pre-release, I guess he just didn't really believe it.
zcot wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:08 am that's a real paradox of this exact root password report.
Hence my suggestion pre-release to just drop that report entirely, there's no real advantage to having it and the confusion it causes is inevitable.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by JoeBingo »

While I do like the System Report application, I'd rather see it as on demand and not constantly running in the background.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by Moem »

But running it on demand would make it useless as a way to bring stuff to the attention of the user, since some folks would never run it.
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gm10

Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by gm10 »

JoeBingo wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:18 pm While I do like the System Report application, I'd rather see it as on demand and not constantly running in the background.
You can disable or remove it from your startup applications the usual way for your desktop environment (they all have their own GUI tool for that).
Moem wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:26 pm But running it on demand would make it useless as a way to bring stuff to the attention of the user, since some folks would never run it.
Sure, but except for the distribution end-of-life check that Clem moved from what I had added to mintupdate to mintreport, all reports are just about things to do after installation - it's basically another welcome screen in a more insistent format. Once you worked through them you're done with them for good I guess.
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by smurphos »

gm10 wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 4:04 am
zcot wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:08 am Clem is aware and cares and I'm sure the dev team is bouncing the ideas, and will be tailoring the stuff.
He had been made aware pre-release, I guess he just didn't really believe it.
zcot wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:08 am that's a real paradox of this exact root password report.
Hence my suggestion pre-release to just drop that report entirely, there's no real advantage to having it and the confusion it causes is inevitable.
He believes you now...

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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by gm10 »

smurphos wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:36 pm He believes you now...
Heh. But don't worry, it's still on the iso, we'll still get our share of confused newlings. :D
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Re: Mint 19.3: Set The Root Password "Nag Screen"

Post by JoeBingo »

gm10 wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:28 pm
JoeBingo wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:18 pm While I do like the System Report application, I'd rather see it as on demand and not constantly running in the background.
You can disable or remove it from your startup applications the usual way for your desktop environment (they all have their own GUI tool for that).
Ah Ha ... thanks
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