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raymor · 06-14-2012, 02:48 PM

Often when people ask for "root access" what they really mean is "shell access" or "unchrooted access". If the programmer is confused about that, they definitely should not have root access.

"root" is basically like Administrator in Windows, except that Windows is 25 years behind on exactly what that means. Basically, user "root" can do anything, whereas normal users like yourself can only alter your own web files, not screw with the OS. Only "root" can mess with the OS and certain system services like Apache, the web server.

As far as root access to install software, let's put it this way. Anyone who wants root access should know what they are doing, and should be very conscious of security issues. People who know what they are doing and are very careful about security don't normally use PHP much. Thus, if they wrote their software in PHP, they shouldn't have root access. I'm only half kidding about that.

06-14-2012, 02:48 PM
raymor Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,745	Often when people ask for "root access" what they really mean is "shell access" or "unchrooted access". If the programmer is confused about that, they definitely should not have root access. "root" is basically like Administrator in Windows, except that Windows is 25 years behind on exactly what that means. Basically, user "root" can do anything, whereas normal users like yourself can only alter your own web files, not screw with the OS. Only "root" can mess with the OS and certain system services like Apache, the web server. As far as root access to install software, let's put it this way. Anyone who wants root access should know what they are doing, and should be very conscious of security issues. People who know what they are doing and are very careful about security don't normally use PHP much. Thus, if they wrote their software in PHP, they shouldn't have root access. I'm only half kidding about that. __________________ For historical display only. This information is not current: support@bettercgi.com ICQ 7208627 Strongbox - The next generation in site security Throttlebox - The next generation in bandwidth control Clonebox - Backup and disaster recovery on steroids Last edited by raymor; 06-14-2012 at 02:50 PM..