On 09/13/2019 03:30 AM, Paul Sutton wrote:
[snip]
I have it working now after using the su - thing, well it wasn't a copy
/ paste issue here but you do raise a good point there.
Thanks to everyone for their help, would be good to figure out why
things like this happen. If I put my average user hat on (as in those
trying to switch from windows) most users would probably just give up
and see Debian as too complex.
I see an interleaving of problem sources.
When I used Windows I was not a aware of permission issues be they root,
owner, or group.
There has been a recent change from using "su " to using "su - ".
I'm not yet sure if that is an actual syntax change or a change of
'recommended usage'.
The is also a more subtle issue. Linux arose out of the Unix world.
Unix was a response to the needs of a large data center with possibly
thousands of users. Today Linux is being used by an individual who is
the _only_ user of a standalone system (e.g. laptop). Permission issues
are much more intuitive in the Unix world than for a single user/owner
of a laptop.
I think what is needed is an essay comparing/contrasting the proper
usage of "sudo" versus "su" versus "su -". It should also include a
discussion of the change from "su" to "su -".
Notice no mention of man pages. They are not the appropriate tool for
this job. They are written by experts for experts. A useful image might
be handing an ESL student a dictionary and expecting an idiomatic
speaker of English to result. YMMV
