How to disable root account?

[Joe Hart]

>> Since sudo wants the root password, it is safe to put all users in the
>> admin group since they would still need to know the root password to
>> do anything.  On my kids' computer it works well, as I don't have to
>> change users to do things.
>>     
>
> Why go through all this trouble when you could just not put people in
> the admin group? Isn't it like giving everybody a key to your house, and
> then put a fence in front of the door.  Why not just not give everybody
> a key to the house in the first place?
>   
No, it's not the same.  The kids don't know the root password, but they 
do know mine.  They've seen me log in too often.  That's why I 
configured their machine this way.  I chose a very cryptic root password 
and practiced typing it so that it is almost impossible for them to see 
what I type.  Being in the admin group doesn't give them access.  What 
it does do is allows me to execute commands from their account, as they 
still need the root password to do anything administrative.

Sure I could have changed my own password but then I would still have to 
log out to do things.  I prefer the standard linux way of having a root 
account, and when apps ask for the root password, that is what they 
get.  Why other would KDE be asking for the root password when you type 
kdesu command?

To each his own.  That's one of the nice things about Linux.  We can all 
configure our machines the way we want to.