Security and backup of multi user guest accounts

[bark-woof-fetch]

I'm wondering how to go about setting up multi user accounts with a login manager on frugal DebianDog.

Neither account should login automatically nor have sudo perms. So consider them guest accounts if you will. They don't need separate apps or WM/DEs, just some simple configs and a password that opens the session and a password manager. Each user shouldn't have access to folders owned by the other.

Also, in terms of encryption of saved account data and easy backup of everything, are there any considerations? Perhaps just giving each its own frugal install is simplest?

Thanks!

[Jafadmin]

I don't understand the logic of taking an OS that was specifically designed to be a single user system where the user logs in automatically as root and try to change it's whole design concept.

It's like buying a roadster then asking what it would take to add two rows of seats and a couple more doors.

[garnet]

It's like buying a roadster then asking what it would take to add two rows of seats and a couple more doors.

You're so funny ^_^

[wiak]

I don't understand the logic of taking an OS that was specifically designed to be a single user system where the user logs in automatically as root and try to change it's whole design concept.

The DebianDogs were not designed as single-user root-only systems. They are fully multi-user capable like official Debian. However, by default they log in as root user to be more like Pups in that sense.

wiak

[Jafadmin]

The DebianDogs were not designed as single-user root-only systems. They are fully multi-user capable like official Debian. However, by default they log in as root user to be more like Pups in that sense.

wiak

So DebianDogs are an SUV with a roadster hood ornament?

[bark-woof-fetch]

thanks for pitching in, was interesting to read

In this case the setup is for two senior citizens who never tinker or click on unfamiliar stuff but are nevertheless convinced that they may break or crash or burn something if not extra careful.

They just need browser and mail and some other basic stuff. Having tested various DE and WM configs from a few distros I've settled on Gnome for them (with two hot corners for show all apps and two for all open apps instead of building menus and panel and docks and such).

I'll start off with a naked BusterDog tonight so any tips re. multi user account setups are still very much appreciated. That would be much simpler than a frugal folder for each plus separate bootloader entries which could easily confuse them at times.

backup note:
Any pup or dog is slim by nature compared to the 3+GB dinos out there so boot and backup should be a smooth walk in the park. Frugal folders on disk seems so much simpler than massive disk/part image syncs and restore read/writes. And it can easily be kept below 10GB which enables Duplicati (link to manual) uploads to our webserver storage space as the host provider doesn't mind some sync traffic once or twice per month.

[Jafadmin]

If you do multi-user accounts, take extreme care when setting up the browsers. Those apps will gobble up your storage and RAM quicker than you can blink.

With a multi-user setup you will have 3 cache locations to stay on top of; root, user1, and user2 will all have their own individual browser caches, and the default cache size for the newer browsers is 1G.

[bark-woof-fetch]

...incidently came across Fatdog's FAQ on this topic later this evening. Have to say they spell out loud and clear why a regular account with sudo perms is just as error prone as root itself. They keep certain network processes away from root though and setup separate savefiles for each user account, nice.

https://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/faqs/login.html