this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
89 points (86.8% liked)

Linux

47929 readers
1154 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I found a (lengthy) guide to doing this but it is for gksu which is gone. I have to imagine there's an easy way. I am running Ubuntu. There is no specific use case, it is just a feature I miss from windows.

EDIT: I always expect a degree of hostility and talking-down from the desktop Linux community, but the number of people in this thread telling me I am using my own computer that I bought with my own money in a way they don't prefer while ignoring my question is just absurd and frankly should be deeply embarrassing for all of us. I have strongly defended the desktop Linux community for decades, but this experience has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Thank you to the few of you who tried to assist without judgement or assumptions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I see no "hostility" and "talking down" here. You shouldn't be running GUI programs with sudo, and the fact that you've been using Linux for X amount of years doesn't change that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I think the talking down aspect comes from phrases like "you shouldn't be doing X", especially when these statements are made as absolutes, rather than contextualised with actual reasons.

Running GUI programs as root might cause security problems, or it might cause software problems. And while you might find these issues important, others might not.

In my opinion, saying something like "it's not a good idea if you care about security" or "doing so might make your PC burst into flames" gives helpful warnings for OP and future readers without talking down to them by making decisions for them what they should and should not do.