[Theforum] Re: root access

Warden, Matt mwarden at mattwarden.com
Thu Apr 25 15:46:50 CDT 2002


ppk wrote:

>But as far as I understood from this discussion one of the fundamental
>problems of evolt is that there is no *final* responsible person, just
>mid-level responsible people who do what they can but badly need some
>overall guidance.

Actually, the issue arose because people thought it was too much of a
one-person decision about many things. Some people used words like
"dictatorship", etc. - but we're over and done with those words, I think.

The issue now is creating a balance between distribution of power and
central leadership (the latter of which includes making sure we don't have
a rogue group).

Fact is, *someone* has to have physical access to the servers, for a
various number of reasons. Whomever that is can decide to pull the
plug. Theoretically, that's actually where the power lies. How much good
is root access to a computer that isn't on?

I think that if we have this structure, and the worst of worst happens,
the steering committee can kick out said person and throw the evolt site
up on other servers. And if it happens again, the steering committee
can take the same action. So, the ultimate ultimate ultimate power lies
with the steering committee. And not because it can su as root on the box
and not because it can delete articles.

I don't think root access gives any power over other people with root
access. It just makes things more complicated.

--
mattwarden
mattwarden.com




More information about the theforum mailing list