[lug] Migrating Ubuntu User Name

[stimits at comcast.net]

I'm not really an "ubuntu person", I'm not sure how to unlock root on it. I've spent most of my life with fedora or redhat variants. How does one unlock root on ubuntu other than sudo?
 
FYI, the systems in question are embedded, use a u-boot boot loader, and have no such thing as a rescue disk or single user mode available. Part of why I'm hoping to find a way to do this with direct editing is to make it possible to hand edit loopback mounted images used for flashing the devices, rather than actually having to manually log in to a device after it is flashed. There are all kinds of reasons while doing development that having the ubuntu account changed to a new name using the same UID/GID would make life easier, as well as related to dealing with windows machines attached to the devices. A small part of wondering how this can be done and what the risks are are simply educational curiosity which might help knowing in the future.
 
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> echnically I should be able to do this with "usermod", but the command> will refuse to run because the original home directory is in use (user> ubuntu must be used to do the usermod...catch 22, this forces it to be> in use at all times during usermod).

Any reason why you can't unlock root, log in as root, and do what youneed to do?_______________________________________________Web Page: http://lug.boulder.co.usMailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lugJoin us on IRC: irc.hackingsociety.org port=6667 channel=#hackingsociety
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