[[!comment format=mdwn username="joelmccracken" avatar="http://cdn.libravatar.org/avatar/45175015b9eb3dd3f6c740b3fe920fed" subject="comment 4" date="2017-04-20T02:23:06Z" content=""" So, it turns out that yes, root is a thing on os x... but it is complicated. I'm going to put what I learned here because I think it will be useful, at least for telling folks how to use propellor on os x. 1. Enable the root account. Steps are here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204012 2. password-authentication as root is disabled -- if you try to `ssh root@localhost`, it wont work. you need a key pair. 3. use su/sudo to install a public key (probably at `.ssh/id_rsa.pub`) to roots authorized_keys. adapted from: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4078360?start=0&tstart=0 4. copy the the pub file to authorized keys: `sudo cp /Users/joel/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /var/root/.ssh/authorized_keys` 5. you should now be able to `ssh root@localhost` without a password. I'm not super sure that this is even the best way forward, but lets get this working first, then we'll see. """]]