Re: [tlug] Feisty Upgrade, USB issues and other oddities

["Arwyn Hainsworth" <arwyn@example.com>]

On 04/04/07, Dave M G <martin@example.com> wrote:

Keith, Edward, Marcelo, Arwyn, Josh, TLUG,

Thank you all for offering advice and information.

One of the postings reminded me that there was most certainly a Gnome
GUI for managing users and groups, so I looked for and found it in the
"System->Administration" menu.

Two questions came up as a result of looking over my groups in this
interface.

1. There is no "plugdev" group listed in the GUI. Does that mean the GUI
can't see it for some reason, or that I don't have it. In the latter
case, do I need to make one, or is it an indication that my system has
some other way of handling what "plugdev" would do otherwise?

I'm on Ubuntu 6.10 and couldn't find it in the GUI either, however when I checked via the command line it existed and I was a member of it. I suspect they hide some groups to protect them from being removed by 'accident'.

2. Browsing around the groups, I notice that I'm not listed as a member
in almost any of them. My computer is a single user system, my initial
instinct is that there should not be anything on my computer that I'm
not allowed to do. Or am I held back from access to some groups for
security or stability reasons? I also notice that "root", the only other
user in my system, is not a member of any groups either.

No, you do not have to be a member of every group nor is it recommended to be. As long as you are a member of the 'admin' group, you have sudo rights, so you can do anything you need doing. Do not mess with any of the other groups unless you know what you are doing. I doubt joining them would have a visible effect on your system, but it might open up a few security holes.

Arwyn