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Re: debian and ubuntu - sudo vs. su



On Sat, May 02, 2009 at 08:02:42PM EDT, Christofer C. Bell wrote:
> On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 4:51 AM, Bret Busby <bret@busby.net> wrote:

> I'm not looking to criticize your choice, but the setting on Ubuntu to
> lock  root  and use  sudo  is  configurable  (and  you can,  in  fact,
> duplicate  it on  Debian if  you want).   If you  want to  use a  root
> password on Ubuntu,  simply set one and then  delete the configuration
> from /etc/sudoers that allows your username to use sudo.

> $ sudo passwd root
> $ su - root
> # visudo
> 
> And so on.  I'm sure you can find the line in there, it will be of the
> format:
> 
> username ALL=(ALL) ALL
> 
> Then save the file and sudo is no longer possible for your user account.
> 
> To duplicate the behavior on Debian, you do something similar:
> 
> $ su - root
> # visudo
> # passwd -l root

> Adding the above line to sudoers (which opens automatically when you
> invoke visudo).  This will give your account sudo access and lock the
> root account (as Ubuntu does).

> There's nothing special  about how Ubuntu does it.  In  fact, when you
> install Etch  you can  have the Ubuntu  behavior at  installation time
> (when  it prompts  for a  root password,  select Cancel,  then in  the
> installer menu,  select the option  for configuring user  accounts and
> select  "No"  when it  asks  if  you want  to  allow  root to  have  a
> password).  It's  all pretty  self-explanatory in  the installer. This
> option was removed in Lenny's installer.

> Anyway, again,  not criticizing your  desire to have a  root password,
> I'm simply pointing out that there's nothing special about what Ubuntu
> is doing  and if you want  to have a  root password on Ubuntu  and use
> Ubuntu, you can.

Nice mini-howto - did that.. couldn't get used to that sudo thing myself
on ubuntu :-)

Changed "Subject:" .. may make it easier to google for.

CJ


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