Re: What is the point of sudo?

[Kent West <westk@acu.edu>]

David Goodenough wrote:

>On Sunday 28 August 2005 18:06, Ian wrote:
>  
>
>>I know it provides a fake root environment for work, but why would you want
>>that?
>>    
>>
>
>You have misunderstood sudo, the root environment is real, not fake.
>
>Sudo allows certain users to issue root commands without having to know the
>root password (they need to be authorised in /etc/sudoers and they need to
>provide their own password).  /etc/sudoers also controls which commands they
>can issue (or all).  
>
>In addition everything done using sudo gets logged, so you can see who did
>what and when.  If you have multiple people doing system administration and
>they have to become root to do it (i.e. either log on as root or use su) then
>you do not know who did a particular action as root did them all, with sudo
>you know who the culprit is.
>
>David
>
>  
>
It's also easier to do root-type things while in X without having to log
into X as root or muck about with the Xauthority files.

-- 
Kent