sudo - Execute a command with superuser privileges.
24
votes
5answers
6k views
How do I run a command as the system administrator (root)
I need to run a command with administrative privileges. Someone said I should run a command as root. How do I do this?
24
votes
4answers
2k views
Redirecting stdout to a file you don't have write permission on
When you attempt to modify a file without having write permissions on it, you get an error:
> touch /tmp/foo && sudo chown root /tmp/foo
> echo test > /tmp/foo
zsh: permission ...
7
votes
4answers
12k views
How to run a specific program as root without a password prompt?
I need to run something as sudo without a password, so I used visudo and added this to my sudoers file:
MYUSERNAME ALL = NOPASSWD: /path/to/my/program
Then I tried it out:
$ sudo ...
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 ...
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?
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Copying protected files between servers in one line?
I'd like to copy squid.conf from one server to another.
The servers don't talk to each other. I'd like to go through my workstation.
Both servers have the file, so it will be overwritten on the ...
28
votes
4answers
1k views
Becoming root from inside Vim
Sometimes I start editing configuration files in /etc using Vim, but forget to use sudo to start Vim. The inevitable result then is that after finishing my edits I encounter the dreaded notice that I ...
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, ...
6
votes
3answers
999 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.
...
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 ...
15
votes
4answers
28k views
5
votes
3answers
4k views
How to restrict to run commands in specific directory through SUDOERS?
I can run chown and chmod commands by sudo system-wide, but want to run these commands in only /var/www/html directory.
How can restrict commands to run only in specified directory by sudo ...
11
votes
3answers
280 views
What specific vulnerabilities am I creating by disabling the sudo password?
Here are some instructions on how to disable your sudo password. These carry the following warning
If you disable the sudo password for your account, you will seriously compromise the security of ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the proper sudoers syntax to add a user?
According to the comments in /etc/sudoers (Fedora 13):
## Syntax:
##
## user MACHINE=COMMANDS
##
## The COMMANDS section may have other options added to it.
My two related questions:
What ...
3
votes
1answer
202 views
How to use SCSUDO to run scripts with positional parameters?
I am trying to use scsudo to run a number of defined commands to stop and start processes on a UNIX host. The issue I am experiencing is that scsudo does not seem to like the use of positional ...
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.
10
votes
2answers
831 views
How to safely pass variables to root-enabled scripts?
This question is totally general and not only applicable to my situation, but... I have a small busybox appliance where I want a non-root user to be able to execute a particular script with root ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
zsh wants to correct vim to .vim
I'm using zsh on Gentoo x64, and when I type sudo vim /path/to/file from my home folder, zsh asks:
zsh: correct 'vim' to '.vim' [nyae]?
I want to run vim not my .vim folder. How do I fix this?
...
35
votes
2answers
2k views
Why do we need to use visudo instead of directly modifying the sudoers file?
I understand that if you want to modify who can use sudo and what they can do with it that you should use visudo. I know I'm not suppose to directly modify the sudoers file myself. What is it that ...
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 ...
3
votes
3answers
496 views
Detach a daemon using sudo?
I noticed that sudo continues to run after executing any of the following lines. Is there any way to detach the daemon completely so sudo does not continue running ?
sudo -u user daemon &
sudo -u ...
12
votes
4answers
603 views
How universal is sudo?
I was writing some instructions on how to install something (TeX-related - if you don't ask, I won't ruin your day by supplying more details) and used sudo to install system-wide. Someone commented ...
4
votes
2answers
6k views
How to get back sudo on Ubuntu?
I have done this:
sudo chown -R myname /usr/
and now I can't use the sudo command because of this error:
sudo: must be setuid root
And as I read this means that the owner of this file ...
7
votes
2answers
5k views
Does mount always require root privileges?
I was under the impression that any sort of call to mount requires root privileges.
But recently I was told "You should instead create appropriate entries in /etc/fstab so that the filesystems can be ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is sudo telling me my password is wrong?
I recently installed OpenBSD 4.9 in my computer, so I could learn a little bit about Unix-like operating systems. I added a new user to the system called bruno. Ok. When I use the 'sudo' command, it ...
2
votes
1answer
133 views
sudo hangs indefinitely without prompting for password
When I logged back into my Ubuntu desktop after an update, my display driver was seemingly unavailable and I was met with vt-7's output. I changed to a different terminal and logged in. However, when ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
Why does cron silently fail to run sudo stuff in my script?
I have a script run from a non-privaleged users' crontab that invokes some commands using sudo. Except it doesn't. The script runs fine but the sudo'ed commands silently fail.
The script runs ...
2
votes
5answers
4k views
What sudoer spec allows users to mount cifs shares?
I'm trying create a line in /etc/sudoers that allows members of group "users" to mount cifs shares anywhere inside their own home directory. In my first attempt I tried:
%users ALL=/bin/mount -t cifs ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
switching from user to root and revers (freebsd)
i want to make some modificaciones with root and then with my user, in fact i want to install sudo and he give me the error in the first step:
cd /usr/ports/security/sudo
make install clean
...
1
vote
4answers
1k views
how can i use sudo within a function?
i have written a function which acts in a similar way to tee but also pre-pends a datestamp. everything works fine except when i want to output to a file which is only root writeable (in my case a ...
8
votes
2answers
5k views
using sudo on GUI applications
When I was using kubuntu, I could always open X applications with sudo, sudo kate for example. Now that I've switched to arch that doesn't work. I know I've always been told to use kdesu, but what ...
7
votes
2answers
985 views
Once sudo su'd to root, is there a command to see my username?
I have sudo rights on a redhat box; once I've "sudo su -" to become root in a shell, are there any commands I can run to see what username I su'd FROM?
6
votes
1answer
585 views
sudo missing on Palm WebOS - can I add it?
I've rooted my Palm Pre (WebOS 1.4.5) and installed a SSH server on it. Now I'd like to SSH into it with an unprivileged user and use sudo for elevated commands.
However: There is no sudo on the ...
3
votes
1answer
75 views
How does having /dev/fd make running shell scripts under sudo safe?
At the end of the man page for sudo, there's the following remark:
Running shell scripts via sudo can expose the same kernel bugs that
make setuid shell scripts unsafe on some operating systems ...
3
votes
1answer
232 views
Update manager updated without prompting for a password
As far as I'm aware, I'm supposed to be prompted for a password before anything installs, but just now, I told update manager to install updates, and it proceeded to installing them without prompting ...
3
votes
2answers
370 views
Run Python Portio script as normal user without root access
I know there are risks running a root script as a normal user, but in this case I don't have a choice and what I am doing is machine related. I have an Small Board Computer that has GPIO ports and I ...
2
votes
2answers
504 views
How to add self to sudoers list?
I've added myself into the sudoers users list by using the command
root@debian:/home/oshirowanen#adduser oshirowanen sudo
If I try to run that command again,
root@debian:/home/oshirowanen# ...
1
vote
2answers
2k views
SSH + Sudo + Expect in Bash script: Run command with sudo in remote machine
I am trying to automate the deploy of some .deb packages with an script. I want to execute sudo dpkg -i $myDeb.deb in a list of remote machines I can access with ssh.
I've tried to automate the ...
1
vote
1answer
242 views
Is there a shorter way to change username, home directory and move files at the same time
I wanted to use and have tried
sudo usermod durrantm_test -mdl durrantm_test2
but I get
Usage: usermod [options] LOGIN
...
However
sudo usermod durrantm_test -l durrantm_test2 -md ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Mint 12: synaptic package manager error
Yesterday I had the same issue, I solved it by running
sudo synaptic
But today I don't know what's happening, if I run gksu synaptic or gksudo synaptic they don't do anything.
If I go to root and ...
1
vote
1answer
552 views
pass 1 environment variable using sudo
Is this a correct way for passing an environment variable in sudo ?
sudo -u www-data -b env FOOBAR="foobar" /home/user/folder/daemon
