Re: One last try...

["Jamin W. Collins" <jcollins@asgardsrealm.net>]

On Sat, Apr 26, 2003 at 02:29:45PM -0500, Michael D. Schleif wrote:
> Also sprach Jon Wood (Sat 26 Apr 02003 at 07:46:23PM +0100):
> 
> > And then go from a terminal, type su, enter your root password, and then
> > nano -w /etc/sudoers
>
> Be very careful doing it your way!
> 
> # sudo cat /etc/sudoers 
> Password:
> # sudoers file.
> #
> # This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.

As I understand it, this is not truly a *must* but rather a *should*.

DESCRIPTION
       visudo edits the sudoers file in a safe fashion, analogous to vipw(8).
       visudo locks the sudoers file against multiple simultaneous edits, pro-
       vides basic sanity checks, and checks for parse errors.  If the sudoers
       file is currently being edited you will receive a message to try again
       later.

There nothing to stop another editor from working, just that you won't
have all the validity checks that visudo offers.

If you don't like the default editor, you can change which one visudo
launches with the EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables.  For more
information see "man visudo".

-- 
Jamin W. Collins

This is the typical unix way of doing things: you string
together lots of very specific tools to accomplish larger tasks.
-- Vineet Kumar