[rhelv6-list] how to remove 'shot down' from system menu?

[David C. Miller]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alois Treindl" <alois at astro.ch>
> To: "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) discussion mailing-list" <rhelv6-list at redhat.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 1:43:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [rhelv6-list] how to remove 'shot down' from system menu?
> 
> I find it a terrible mistake by Redhat to install an unmodified GNOME
> with shutdown permission for non-root users.
> 
> We run our company server with about 10 X-terminals used by office
> staff. The server needs to run permanently, but the X-terminals are
> just
> used during office hours by non-technical staff.
> 
> The x-terminals use the Gnome desktop of the server via XDMCP. We
> have
> used this setup since many years, first with HP-UX, since eight years
> with various versions of RHEL. The server is physically remote in a
> server room.
> 
> It is an excellent solution, low maintenance, adequate performance
> for
> office work.
> 
> Please don't tell me we should use a local window manager on the
> x-terminals. These are horrible monsters. We like the desktop offered
> by
> RHEL.
> 
> Such an x-terminal  user, when he/she wants to logout and turn off
> the
> x-terminal, will easily make a mistake to 'shut down' the server if
> this
> option is offered as it is, and not even protected by the root
> password.
> 
> I found an article describing a solution:
> http://www.shaunrowland.com/fsync/2011/04/20/removing-shut-down-from-the-gnome-panel-in-rhel-6/
> But when you read through this, you notice how complex it is. And
> each
> gnome update will overwrite the special configuration it is. A design
> fault by Gnome, I agree with the author.
> Redhat should not have accepted this design fault on their system.
> 
> We will switch back to KDE desktop, after using Gnome since RHEL5.
> KDE
> at least has no such stupid power-down by normal users. As the KDE
> konsole terminal is finally able to handle utf8 properly, including
> Asian languages with good fonts, as gnome-terminal did since a long
> time
> already, there is no string reason to stick with gnome now.
> 
> 
> On 10/05/2011 03:10 PM, Prentice Bisbal wrote:
> > Alois,
> >
> > If users have physical access to the systems and can hit the power
> > button or unplug the system, I strongly recommend that you leave
> > the
> > shutdown option on the start menu. If a user is determined to
> > shutdown/reboot a computer, I would much rather they shut it down
> > gracefully by using the shutdown command than doing it harshly buy
> > holding the power button or unplugging the system, which can lead
> > to a
> > host of other problems.
> >
> > --
> > Prentice
> >
> >
> > On 10/05/2011 08:49 AM, Horst Severini wrote:
> >> Hi Alois,
> >>
> >> I'm not sure there is a way to remove that, and I'm not sure it
> >> makes too
> >> much sense to look too hard for it, either, since when someone is
> >> sitting
> >> right in front of a computer, they can (a) shut it down from the
> >> login screen,
> >> or (b) press the power button or (c) unplug the power cord, so in
> >> my mind
> >> it doesn't much matter if you eliminate one way to shut it down
> >> when
> >> there are several other you can't eliminate.
> >>
> >> Just my 2c,
> >>
> >> 	Horst
> >>
> >> Alois Treindl<alois at astro.ch>  wrote:
> >>
> >>> I have recently installed RHEL6 with GNOME desktop.
> >>>
> >>> In each user's menu appeasr under the entry 'System' also to item
> >>> 'Shut
> >>> down'
> >>>
> >>> I would like to remove this item for all users except root.
> >>> In fact normal users can use this link to shut down the system,
> >>> they are
> >>> not asked for root password. I do not know how this can happen?
> >>> Where can I at least configure that they are asked the root
> >>> password for
> >>> shutdown?
> >>>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > rhelv6-list mailing list
> > rhelv6-list at redhat.com
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhelv6-list
> 
> 
> --
> || Alois Treindl,  Astrodienst AG,  mailto:alois at astro.com
> || Zollikon/Zurich, Switzerland
> || Free astrological charts at      http://www.astro.com/
> || SWISS EPHEMERIS Free Edition at   http://www.astro.com/swisseph/
> 
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> 


Have you actually tried to shutdown the system while logged in with a regular account over an XDMCP connection? I know that using other non local console methods of using Gnome like VNC and NoMachine will not allow the system to be rebooted or shutdown.

David.