this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 18 hours ago

It was a serious issue back then. People were wandering around on the Internet with root accounts. A lot of #linux IRC channels were kicking&banning anyone with "~root" or "root" ident with educational sentence like "Do not use root account as your ordinary account, check instructions". We don't see the issue widespread today since distros did very good intended "dark patterns" to push users to regular user accounts. Linux (or UNIX) "root" account is true god mode. E.g. infamous "rm" as root joke (!) could even affect Windows running WSL2, so MS had to implement special workarounds.