I think the problem is this is part of the fundamentals of good system administration. Something the stereotypical clueless (about the art of system administration) developer is going to have a very hard time grasping. One obvious approach is to ask him how much he would enjoy explaining to upper management why a fast, undocumented fix he just made broke something highly visible in production. Then ask him why he thinks it is okay to do something similar on the current server.
I agree with the sentiment expressed above about revoking root access (though I would get management buy-in first). There is responsibility that comes with root access that this person clearly does not have.
Or alternatively give him full responsibility for that system (make a backup first). He will quickly learn it’s not as easy or simple as he thought!
You could also have him read some of the BOFH stories and then ask him how he would feel as the luser. Or, you could take on the mantle of the BOFH and show him the true power of root!! Muahahah!! :-) In reply to Re: On "fixing" Perl core modules "in place" by Argel in thread On "fixing" Perl core modules "in place" by tlm Title: Use: <p> text here (a paragraph) </p> and: <code> code here </code> to format your post; it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML": Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data! Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place. Please read these before you post! — How do I compose an effective node title? How do I post a question effectively? Markup in the Monastery Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags: a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr Outside of code tags, you may need to use entities for some characters: For: Use: & & < < > > [ [ ] ] Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking? See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.
Or, you could take on the mantle of the BOFH and show him the true power of root!! Muahahah!! :-)
In reply to Re: On "fixing" Perl core modules "in place" by Argel in thread On "fixing" Perl core modules "in place" by tlm
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