Show HN: A fork of sudo with Touch ID support

There are some slight usability issues with using custom PAM config. E.g. if you want to unlock the lock screen without password using the Yubikey, you still need to press enter.

Meanwhile, the other 90% of users will probably love it when their IDE, profiler, every browser's developer tools, etc. can display context-appropriate labels so they don't need to remember what F8 does in the current mode of the current application.

Do you need a button like this on your keyboard? No, you could set up a new Vim bind. But this is more dynamic; what if the test re-run buttons were only visible after having modified a file, and replaced with a deploy or commit button if tests succeed?

If you're vigorously opposed to it, don't buy a Mac. But some people can definitely see use in it. It's like your function row, but with visibly context-aware functions.

The "I need to pick colors and scrub video" response is getting old. Nobody does that stuff often enough for it to be a good trade off.

That "function keys can do anything" is, in my opinion, the exact reason they had to go. They're scary for the typical user. What is F7? You may know, but it's not obvious in any way. That some of them cause destructive actions (e.g. Alt+F4 on Windows) makes it worse - they're scary to many users. And even when after figuring out what some of them do, one is stuck wondering "was that F8? Or F9? Oh! It was F10" (which, includes the worry that a wrong guess could cause problems).

Though, I cannot believe they shipped it without the haptic feedback to make it clear that a button was actually clicked.

^ Also, none of that, to me, includes Esc. Esc seems clear enough in its intent, and I hold no ill-will toward the Esc key.

This bar is all the bad stuff about a touchscreen (limited/no tactile feedback, reduced ability to rely on muscle memory) plus the bad stuff about keyboards (primarily that they are not where your eyes are naturally). There are a few tiny niche uses cases that will be nice, like video scrubbing, but 90% of the time it's just going to be functionality that is more difficult to use than it was previously.

It is a gimmick, but in my opinion it's not an improvement, it's counterproductive.

If you are afraid that some one will cut off your finger to unlock your computer don't use the touchID, that said if some one is willing to do that to unlock it i wouldn't want to imagine what they'll do to you to get the password.

;)

If a biometric sensor can be tricked by a body part that is no longer attached to the body, that's a serious issue. But AFAIK at least modern sensors try to verify if it's still alive and then there's also the biological effect that a body part quickly changes its properties if it is no longer supported by the body.

The biggest danger in that is probably criminals who don't know that it is likely that a detached body parts stops functioning.

  >>There might os level files that only root can edit or delete

  >>I can reinstall the os anytime if I should ever mess it up

  >>All the value is in my data.

If you were running your web browser as root, and a malicious website used a vulnerability to drop some malware on your system, then it would have complete power to do what it liked without needing to escalate privilege using another vulnerability.

If you want an example of something that could cause lasting damage, it's probably pretty easy to put your Apple product into a non-booting state by fiddling with NVRAM or PRAM settings as root. I'm not familiar with them off the top of my head, though.