[kragen]

something like 99% of computers with sudo installed are single-user machines where the only effect of the warning is to scare people

and it's only been the same since people started to switch to sudo in the late 90s; su never printed such a warning

[TaylorAlexander]

Reminds me of when I was younger and my mom and my brother were using a windows computer. They got the message “an illegal error has occurred” and my mom called me to ask if they had broken the law.

[Gigachad]

I almost shit myself the first time I saw X Screensaver..

It has to take the prize for worst UX ever.

[kragen]

do you mean the bsod screensaver

sometimes people also complain about xscreensaver's lock screen because it doesn't use a widget library, but the alternative lock screens can often be crashed through bugs in the widget libraries they use

[Gigachad]

The one with the flaming screen and countdown timer. I had just installed the distro and though I had some malware installed.

[kragen]

oh, that's just the lock screen

the flaming screen is just the xscreensaver logo (it's supposed to save your screen from burnin, originally)

i hadn't ever heard of anyone thinking it was malware, that's pretty funny

jwz is a more brilliant troll than i gave him credit for

[mr_mitm]

When I was young I had messed with the computer and it showed an english message with the word "atom" in it. My mom not being a native speaker freaked out as if a nuclear explosion was about to take place.

[alexb_]

>the only effect of the warning is to scare people

Good. If you're not familiar with what sudo does, then you shouldn't be using it in the first place.

[teaearlgraycold]

If it’s your own computer you should be able to break it until you learn how not to.

[kibwen]

If you shouldn't be using sudo, then you shouldn't be listed as a sudoer on that system. If you're listed as a sudoer, then you should become familiar with what sudo does.

[twelve40]

i'd argue in a different direction: if sudo barks a scary unknown message at me, i'd avoid using it altogether and just use su, which is the opposite of what people should be nudged to do.

[pxeger1]

It's an abstraction. You shouldn't need to be familiar with every aspect of what it does.

[kaba0]

Are you familiar with every part of the stack you are working on, down to the hardware?

[salawat]

Yes. Largely through torturing my system and reducing it to non-bootable state and having to read up on what symbols I mangled this time and how. Why do you ask?