Unix and Linux: Visual QuickStart Guide, Fourth Edition

Chapter 15. Being Root

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• Acting with root authority

• Becoming root

• Starting, stopping, and restarting daemons

• Changing the system configuration

• Monitoring the system

• Setting the date and time

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Up to now, we’ve been addressing Unix tools and tips that you, as a normal user of the system, can take advantage of. And, as a normal user, you can’t hurt the system as a whole—you can mess up your own files, certainly, but that’s as far as it goes. As we’ve mentioned, though, there’s also a different class of user, called “superuser,” or root. The root user has complete power within the system and can (must) handle configuration issues, software installation for everyone using the system, and troubleshooting. The ...