t42 wrote: ⤴Thu Feb 22, 2024 7:37 pm
Probably it is just a figure of speech that root account is blocked for security reasons. A user with sudo status has immediate possibility to switch to root terminal with
sudo -i
. For example, Debian installation by default creates root password and a user is not included in
sudo group....
Lot of truth there, I think the real reason a root account isn't set up by default on Mint or Ubuntu is part of their being beginner friendly,
If you're in WIndows the OS will assume you don't know what you're doing and will prevent you from running some terminal commands, even dealing with low level stuff like installing WIndows/creating boot sector/etc.
In Linux, if you log in as root the OS will assume you know exactly what you're doing. As long as what you're doing doesn't violate the syntax rules of the command it will execute it. If what you told it to do will completely trash the OS it will happily do so.
I ran Ubuntu and Mint for years and never once set up a root account. It wasn't necessary.
BTW I run Debian 12 Gnome on my main Linux box now and, at least using the Calamares graphical installer, you don't have to set up a root account any more. I didn't set up one. And I didn't have to put myself into sudoers, obviously. They even offer official live isos with nonfree firmware now.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken