Comment Developers need more discipline (Score 4, Insightful) 464
I've been both a developer and an administrator.
As a general policy, if a developer needs root access, they need to prove to me as an administrator that they actually do need root access. I'm not going to give root access (sudo, su -, or access to privileged accounts), even on a development box, to someone that needs occasional chmod privileges. More often than not, the people who are begging for root access are those that have been so spoiled by coding on their own Linux boxes that they lose sight of all the best practices that contribute to good code. They want foolish things like directories with 777 privileges so they can drop temp files when there are 30 better ways to do it. root is not a cure all... just because you're used to it on your own machine doesn't mean it's appropriate for coding in a multi-user environment developing customer-facing applications.
In the end, there are very few specialized applications that actually require root access to work. I will concede that sometimes root access is necessary but it needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis. I'm of the belief that a properly written application should be written such that it can be run with the least amount of privileges, and can be installed anywhere... not just /usr. root access as we know it is a luxury that should be reserved for true administrative duties, unless absolutely positively necessary.
As a general policy, if a developer needs root access, they need to prove to me as an administrator that they actually do need root access. I'm not going to give root access (sudo, su -, or access to privileged accounts), even on a development box, to someone that needs occasional chmod privileges. More often than not, the people who are begging for root access are those that have been so spoiled by coding on their own Linux boxes that they lose sight of all the best practices that contribute to good code. They want foolish things like directories with 777 privileges so they can drop temp files when there are 30 better ways to do it. root is not a cure all... just because you're used to it on your own machine doesn't mean it's appropriate for coding in a multi-user environment developing customer-facing applications.
In the end, there are very few specialized applications that actually require root access to work. I will concede that sometimes root access is necessary but it needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis. I'm of the belief that a properly written application should be written such that it can be run with the least amount of privileges, and can be installed anywhere... not just
