Tagged Questions

0
votes
1answer
33 views

Difference between sudo su - user and sudo -iu user [duplicate]

I was wondering if there were any difference (in environment ?) between doing sudo su - user and sudo -iu user From what I know: By using sudo su - user I open a new shell as user, and the ...
-1
votes
1answer
58 views

Where does sudo get the currently logged in username from?

When I tried to "sudo su" instead of "sudo su -" after having been logged in as root and su-ing to another user, it tries to sudo me as the new user, but via root... When I type env, it shows still ...
1
vote
3answers
205 views

Using sudo in openSUSE without actually changing to root user (i.e., like in Ubuntu)

I recently started trying openSUSE 12.3 after having used Ubuntu for a few years. I'm still getting used to openSUSE's treatment of su (and sudo) vs. Ubuntu's use of sudo. I've been reading the ...
9
votes
4answers
733 views

Why doesn't “sudo su” in a shell script run the rest of the script as root?

A sample script can be as below: #!/bin/bash sudo su ls /root When using ./test.sh as the normal user, instead run ls as super user and exit, it switches to root; and when I logout, it executes ls ...
0
votes
3answers
98 views

What does sudo su work but su does not? [duplicate]

I have tried this on Fedora and on Ubuntu. kshitiz@kshitiz:~$su su: Authentication failure kshitiz@kshitiz:~$sudo su root@kshitiz:/home/kshitiz# I am entering the same password in both the cases. ...
1
vote
1answer
107 views

Setting the root password vs. sudo -i

Should one always set a root password, or is sudo -i acceptable? Two problems is in reading other posts (maybe junk I realize): sudo -i eliminates the need for a password. Isn't that a problem for ...
2
votes
4answers
179 views

Should I use `sudo` or `su` in a startup script?

I have a personal program, that has a server/client design. The server daemon part of it, should be run as its own limited user, and the program was not designed to drop its root privileges (if ...
2
votes
1answer
500 views

Can't use su or sudo on Arch Linux

Sudo returns this error: sudo: effective uid is not 0, is sudo installed setuid root? And su - returns this: su: Authentication failure The user I'm using is a member of the following groups: ...
0
votes
1answer
732 views

How to use sudo in Fedora?

I use to be a fans of Ubuntu, when I want to execute a command as root user, I do this sudo blah_blah_blah. But in Fedora 16, it doesn't seem recognize this command. Any clue on this?
1
vote
1answer
228 views

automate login as sudo and su

I know the security risks, but I am performing this experiment/excercise on an old, seldom used *nix machine I have laying around the house. So doing this excerise will not bring any security risk to ...
2
votes
4answers
429 views

Allow paswordless user to change to another passwordless user

I have two users dev and tomcat neither of them have a password. How can I allow dev 1 do su - tomcat without having him having to enter any credentials? 1 connects with ssh keyfile
9
votes
2answers
2k views

su vs sudo -s vs sudo bash

What is the difference between the following commands: su sudo -s sudo bash I know for su I need to know the root password, and for sudo I have to be in the sudoers file, but once executed what is ...
0
votes
4answers
1k views

Is there a difference between sudo su - root and sudo -u root -H /bin/bash?

Like title says, is there a difference between these two commands : sudo su - root sudo -u root -H /bin/bash I'm using GNU/Linux, if that makes a difference.
0
votes
0answers
294 views

Why do you need sudo for “sudo su root”? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: When do su and sudo use different passwords? Why do you need to use sudo su root ? Why won't it work to just use su root?
5
votes
1answer
3k views

How to run a GUI program as a different user (Debian)?

Using a terminal, I can change the running user with su and sudo — but how can I do that by clicking on an icon/shortcut on the desktop/start menu? If I have to be root to execute I will be asked ...
6
votes
1answer
449 views

What is the difference between 'sudo' and 'su -c'

Is there any difference between using sudo and using su -c? There are situations where one should be used but not the other? I was previously using Ubuntu where sudo appears to be ubiquitous but now ...
2
votes
1answer
415 views

sulog with openSUSE 11.2 (x86_64)

I need to log as much as possible when users a doing su *... Best would be to log all commands especially for the case root does something as a user. We can assume root would not change this logging ...
7
votes
1answer
551 views

What's the difference between sudo su - and sudo su --

When I am working on our RHEL machines, I use sudo su - to switch to being root. One day, a typo meant I typed sudo su -- instead - it seems to me that everything was the same as with a single hyphen, ...
69
votes
7answers
7k views

Which is the safest way to get root privileges: sudo, su or login?

I would like to have the root account in safety even if my unprivileged user is compromised. On Ubuntu you can only use sudo for "security reasons" by default. However I am not sure it is any safer ...
16
votes
5answers
7k views

What is the need for 'fakeroot' command in linux

Why do we need fakeroot command at all? Can't we simply use the sudo or su commands? The man page says: fakeroot - run a command in an environment faking root privileges for file manipulation ...
6
votes
3answers
998 views

sudo permission denied but su grants permission

this is the first occurrence where su was required for me. I read an article about changing the value in /sys/devices/virtual/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness to alter my laptop's screen brightness. ...
4
votes
5answers
2k views

How do I suppress dd output?

I have a bash script that creates some file using dd. The problem is dd throws a great amount of output that is going to mess with the output of my script. Searching around I've found a solution: dd ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views

When do su and sudo use different passwords?

I am able to run anything using sudo; my password is accepted. But whenever I try to do su from a shell, it fails with: su: incorrect password What can the problem be?
49
votes
5answers
9k views

Where did the “wheel” group get its name?

The wheel group on *nix computers typically refers to the group with some sort of root-like access. I've heard that on some *nixes it's the group of users with the right to run su, but on Linux that ...
3
votes
2answers
4k views

su options - running command as another user

I was wondering how to run a command as another user from a script. I have the script's owner set as root. I also have the following command being run within the script to run the command as the ...