In Linux and other UNIX-like computer operating systems, the root account is the administrator account. A user with root privileges can perform many tasks that a standard user account cannot. In current editions of Fedora 17, the idea of a disabled root account is a foreign one.
But come Fedora 18, the next stable release, the root account will be disabled by default. It is one of the many new features of Anaconda, the Fedora system installation program. That at least is what you see in the just released Fedora 18 Alpha.
In this screen shot, which from the main interface of Anaconda, you can see below the ROOT PASSWORD button, though not readily legible, a 4-word phrase that says, root account is disabled.
Clicking on the root account button in the previous image automatically enables it, provided you specify the password.
With the root account disabled, the user created during the installation process is assigned to the Administrators group by default. This, of course, gives this user all admin privileges.
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The thing that I do not understand is, why is it even necessary to disable the root account? Is there any disadvantage to having a system with the traditional root account enabled? I cannot think of any reasonable one, can you?
