… from my cold dead hands… 
So I am forced to switch devices, which means flashing anew from the latest release (4.4.0.64 at the moment), which will of course bring the defaultuser account.
Has someone migrated their device “backwards” to the good old nemo user?
Is it enough to hack /etc/passwd/shadow and/or use usermod to change that, or are there more steps required?
Just a note: while would not have objected to the user renaming way back when on principle, the mind-boggingly boring and uninspired name that was chosen for the new one is almost disgusting. Literally any other choice would not have had this reaction from me.
So my main motivation here is spite.
I’m also interested in a solution for this problem.
I think i hypothesized a solution in one of the other threads on the same topic.
Basically; mount the image pre-flash or use recovery mode and edit some file (similar to how people would disable encryption).
I think the string defaultuser appeared like twice throughout the image, so it looked very manageable.
haha, you said it! Not only disgustingly boring but also way too long if you have to type it on the phone.
nah, defaultuser is really suck. should be configured on first run. defaultuser should only happen if one does NOT enter a pref.
I think I’ll name it elop in honour of the founder of SailfishOS.
It’s shorter too .
Sometimes I really want to stick to integers. How about 42? uid == username. I am 42. Ok, I wish. I’m > 42, but it was a nice year.
How about just root? Isn’t all that sudo/devel-su leftover from servers/desktops?
No, I really mean it, what exactly is the pro of following that security model on a device as personal as it gets? If I’d save 5 seconds every time I typed ‘devel-su/enter/password/enter’ I would probably have saved few hours by now since n900 times, especially after hw keyboards went away. You could accidentally rm -rf /? Well you can accidentally rm -rf /home/nemo just as likely.
No, it’s a question of whether or not an action that should be executed with higher privs is made consciously. And I say that as a ‘drink and root’ kind of guy. What does that have to do with the ‘name’? Why did they change the default from nemo? I’m looking for nemo. Why change it?
I consciously, on server systems, go through extra steps ( for instance, I don’t use an agent for session auth) to force me to do double auth. A sort of 2FA. The reason I do so is that I often spend a lot of time in a session as root. It’s just a note to self. And it does constrain me. In the final analysis, I’m always root. My user name is always 3 chars long. That’s also prived.
Root or sudo, you can always shoot yourself in the foot 
And finally, there is no distinction between servers, desktops, telephones. As SOON as they run a linux, bsd (aka apple) or other kernel, they are a computer with too many moving parts. I build some machines that don’t have this kind of problem. They only respond to physical inputs (changes in voltages on pins) and are not in any way susceptible to hacking unless you physically open them and shove wires into them. And apply a voltages, etc. Sometimes, in a fit, I rip off the usb connectors.
My telephone is not nearly as personal as the machine I’m currently typing on. But I do agree that limiting the utility of the very personal devices we work with all the time can be counter productive. In fact, can be deleterious to the realization of our liberty, which is what the machines are FOR.
Nevertheless, sometimes I’m sloppy and need to remind myself of my mortality and my responsibility. Especially because I develop software for you. And I’m not careful enough with input sanitation.
Well pkcon since a few updates follows the windows vista+ model and asks user for confirmation, which most home users still would disable, idk, maybe the pros outweigh the cons, on touchscreens retyping password (plus up arrow and a lot of scrolling left as devel-su !! does not want to work) still is a pita tho
I’m ok with following whatever rules at work, ssh tunnels, 2fa and changing password every 30 days, on my phone I’m developing for myself
edit: I mean using current best practices, if mobile OS development has somehow just started enabling developer mode would force you to use 13+ characters with a mix of upper/lowercase + digits + special chars, with not too many repeating chars, would check it vs online db of leaked passwords, forced you to change it every few weeks with no reuse of last 5-10 passwords, all that is totally sensible security practice today, noone would bat an eye
MeeToo! I want to be Trinity (or Seven, what is short for Seven of nine)
Yo, yo. Me too. Not about rules, though. I’m releasing software. So, even if my GPL terms all say, GOOD LUCK, I feel obligated. And, frankly, I think my work is too sloppy at the moment (for the internet enabled stuff) to NOT want the sandbox. Sailjail, even when it sucks, makes me think harder. But what does that have to do with the username?
I really, really believe that D-BUS usage, that is to say, inter-application data/method sharing needs an intelligent solution. Sailjail does NOT offer that, at the moment. This is also a difficult problem which has not really been solved by anyone. Not apple. Not google. Those ‘places’ are bereft of intelligent software design and full of apps, apps, apps. I also genuinely believe we could make some progress.
And yeah, users, like my GF, do not care about security. Nor do my neighbors. But they come to me when shit happens.
Maybe there should be a feature request to just specify a username at first login.
If there are so few hard-coded references to defaultuser this wouldn’t require too much effort to implement, and it leaves us with a more personalized device with a slightly harder attack vector (and lets me ‘ssh jollax10ii’ from my PC with the same username).
I think someone mentioned defaultuser taking more chars to type than nemo, but yeah, just a tangent, then again I did buy into the 10 III hype so also interested if someone figures out how to change that
But seriously, ever think what would happen if EVERYTHING was always root?
Worked on DOS just fine