Root login at console

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Doug Hardie
> Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 11:27 PM
> To: Ted Mittelstaedt
> Cc: f-questions List
> Subject: Re: Root login at console
> 
> 
> Thanks.  I just checked ttys in my 4.6 system and they all say secure.  
> I see the instructions in ttys now and that makes sense.  A quick check 
> also shows it works.  I guess there was a bug in 4.6.  The instructions 
> seem to indicate that removing the secure keyword is all that is 
> required.  Thats what I checked and it worked.  I presume thats the 
> same as using the insecure key which I really didn't see mentioned.
> 

Not exactly, depends on the version.  On FBSD version 10, in the /etc/ttys
file the following line is present:

# If console is marked "insecure", then init will ask for the root password
# when going to single-user mode.

Perhaps if you use something other than secure or insecure, init won't ask
for the root password?  I don't know, never tried it.  Insecure is what has
been used in the past, by convention, if your not using 'secure'  Possibly
to make things more obvious?

Ted