Re: How to enable root on OS 10.5.4 ?

Mark Conrad <this.is@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <michelle-94D038.17544715072008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Michelle
Steiner <michelle@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Very intelligent people sometimes make "obvious" mistakes, why
encourage that to happen by calling two different things by the same
name, when with a little forethought you could have changed one of
the names.

They aren't called by the same name; their names are different. One has
a one-word name, and the other has a two-word name.

Big deal, one is named "Directory Utility", the other is
named "Directory".

"Directory" is in the Utilities folder, any reasoning person
would therefore conclude that "Directory" is
a "Directory Utility".

I agree to some extent. Apple could have used a clearer name for
"Directory Utility" such as "Directory Setup".

Most of the other applications in the Utilities folder which deal with
configuration have "Utility" on the end of their name (e.g. Airport
Utility, ColorSync Utility, Disk Utility, RAID Utility, VoiceOver
Utility), so "Directory Utility" is consistent with this group.

There is at least one "Setup" (Audio MIDI Setup).

There is also one "Utility" which doesn't do configuration (Network
Utility).

The "Directory" application is used to look up information from
directory servers, so it could be called something like "Directory
Access".

Another option might have been to combine "Directory" and "Directory
Utility" into a single application, but this would be rather messy and
would require hiding the entire function of Directory Utility inside a
menu item.

Most reasoning people (not Apple) would _drop_
the "Directory" altogether - who cares a rats ass
whether or not the stuff is in a directory or not.

I don't think so. The term "Directory" refers specifically to servers
running one of the standard directory access protocols (Open Directory,
Active Directory or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). The term is
consistently used in the industry and Apple is following the
conventional naming.

These applications are almost never used by anyone who isn't running on
a managed network with a directory server (e.g. a corporate network, or
at least a small business with a Mac OS X Server or Microsoft server,
with probably ten or more employees).

Most home Mac users don't have access to any server of this type so they
can't do anything useful with Directory, and the only significant
feature of Directory Utility is the management of the Root account,
which most Mac users never need to touch.

The two applications have different target audiences - Directory is used
by end users on a corporate network and may be used on a regular basis,
while Directory Utilty is used by network administrators or IT staff,
typically once to set up a computer.

--
David Empson
dempson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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