Re: Adding/modifying users under MATE DE
On Mon, 2019-02-04 at 10:34 -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I'm creating a Tcl script [to be run as user] which calls dumpe2fs ,
> requiring root privileges. On comp.lang.tcl I was pointed to
> [
> https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-unix-running-sudo-command-without-a-password/
> ]
> which pointed out that a user could be authorized to run specific
> executables.
>
> Although I'm the only person with any access to my machine, I have
> avoided using sudo in the past. That article dampened my qualms.
>
> Back in 2015, when wanting to modify users, I was pointed to
> "mate-system-tools". According to
> [https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/mate-system-tools] it has been
> removed
> from the repository.
>
> Is there a user friendly alternative?
>
> Following a series of links suggests using visudo. It doesn't look
> friendly. I'm not sure yet if it can create new users from scratch.
> There are references to adduser (and relatives) but
> [https://packages.debian.org/stretch/adduser] gives its home page as
> [http://alioth.debian.org/projects/adduser/] which seems to be
> defunct.
>
Visudo edits the sudoers file, which describes who may use the sudo
command, and for what. Paraphrasing the visudo man page, it does so
safely, so that (a) the file /etc/sudoers is locked to prevent
concurrent edit operations from messing it up, and (b) it is checked
before saving for syntax errors and not saved if there are.
As Tomas noted in an earlier response, the environment variable EDITOR
can be set to determine the editor to be used, although I also do not
know whether GUI editors can be used successfully: I had no success
using LibreOffice Writer in the simplest way, but that alone is not
proof.
When in doubt about questions like this it often is helpful to consult
man pages, which often are available on the Web if you don't want to
install the necessary packages that includes them. In this case, if sudo
is installed, the man page for sudo also will be there, probably along
with those for sudoers and visudo, although I could be wrong about the
last.
Tom Dial
> Where is a first time user to go for appropriate guidance?
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