theoretical question - can root's username be changed?

[Jeff Vian]

On Thu, 2005-12-01 at 21:15 -0500, Claude Jones wrote:
> Subject line says it all...
of course, (in practice if not in fact)

root is actually a username in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.
That user can be given any name you choose, but be very careful.  Other
programs depend on the username of root.  /etc/aliases is an example
where NOT having the username root would break things for mail.

You can easily give some other user the root privileges ( UID=0, GID=0 )
and use that account instead of root for the same authority. (Note that
this applies to the standard Linux authentication and may not apply in
the same way to SELinux.)



> -- 
> Claude Jones
> Bluemont, VA, USA
>