As
more users came on to systems with the advent of the PC, requiring users to log in was
the touchstone of security measures. Today, because of viruses, worms, and assorted evildoers
trying to almost constantly break into networks, named users and passwords are
essential elements in any secure computing environment.
The Root user, who is responsible for all administrative tasks on the system, creates an
account for each user. This involves assigning a username and creating an initial password
for that user. You created the first user account for your system during the installation in
Chapter 3, ???Installing openSUSE.???
The Root user can delegate responsibilities to a single user or a group of users by sharing
the Root password. Those users can then run the SuperUser program (su) to act as the
Root user. You will learn more about SuperUsers in Chapter 19.
Individual users cannot change their usernames. System administrators of large user
communities like to have some consistency in usernames, especially considering that a
username is a central element of that user??™s email address.
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