[TriLUG] to delete root, or not too?

[Douglas Hardison]

jason watts wrote:
> hello
>
> i spent today downloading installing and updateing (851 updates) 
> fedora core 5. as part of my senior project.
>
> after i was done, i was told to add this account, and give him root 
> privlages. so, i added the user to the group 'root'.  then i was 
> instructed to google and find out how to delete the root account since 
> i said i dont think its posible.
>
> so, my questions are,
>
> 1) how do i delete root? can i do it threw the normal way you delete 
> any user account?
>
> 2) was told if i cant delete it, to find a way to lock it down and 
> disable it... so, what all would i need to lock down? and dont i need 
> some of the functionality of root for certin operations to be completed?
>
> 3) if its posible, for some reason, this doesnt seem like the smartest 
> of idea's, and i need to prove to my ta(teachers assistant) why we 
> should not delete root.
>
> thanks for any help
> jason
>
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You should be able to remove a user in the 'root' group using userdel, 
provided you're logged in as root.

Possibly, I'm simplifying the problem... but, why not just disable 
root's password, and change the shell to something like /sbin/nologin or 
/bin/false?

I wouldn't necessarily try to remove the root account all together.