I hate sudo

[kbunt]

Now, I get the message "Your username is unknown to sudo!" when I try to run KUser. I assume that any root privilege will now be denied.

It won't accept the password.

When I try to sudo I get: " X is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported." X is my userid. or the user name.

Isn't SUDO GREAT?!? There is no shortage of people who bash sudo. Just google it. There are also experienced Linux users who bash (Ubuntu and) sudo and mock it repeatedly. This is yet another example why.

What is wrong with SU?!? Why did they ever change it? STUPID!

Now this stupid system is going to make me google and try to find out what the heck happened.

Edit: Oh yeah, there will be a few pages on how to fix sudo. But, they will be GNOME/UBUNTU CENTRIC!

[kbunt]

Re: I hate sudo

I fixed it with an Ubuntu forums thread!

But, I am not sure how I took my own username out of the 'admin' group.... WEIRD...

Does anyone know how to fix that problem if you can't boot up into recovery mode? I was just fortunate I was able to do that.

[kubicle]

Re: I hate sudo

Does anyone know how to fix that problem if you can't boot up into recovery mode?

Why would one be unable to boot into recovery mode? (it does not depend on working sudo)

There are other ways to get root access, besides the recovery mode...but it is the simplest way.

There is no shortage of people who bash sudo

And most of them have no idea what they are talking about. Sudo was not invented by ubuntu, it's been around since the early 80's, and used succesfully in a variety of unix and unix-like environments.

There are also experienced Linux users who bash (Ubuntu and) sudo and mock it repeatedly.

Experienced users usually don't bash sudo itself, sometimes users have issues about how sudo is configured by default on ubuntu. These are matters of opinion mostly (though sometimes they are just misunderstandings), and one can change the defaults.

What is wrong with SU?!? Why did they ever change it?

sudo has advantages over su, like logging of commands and the ability to set limited root privileges for different users to name a few.

[Snowhog]

Re: I hate sudo

Knowledge is power, and the amount of power one has is proportional to the knowledge one has gained. If you find your power lacking, acquire more knowledge.

"Free (as in free beer)." There is always a cost associated with acquiring anything, even if the cost is only measured in how much time one spends on getting it. I would recommend purchasing Ubuntu Linux Toolbox, 1000+ Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users, Christopher Negus & Francois Caen, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

This is an excellent reference/resource to have next to your PC - I have it (among other useful books) and refer to it often. Chapter 3: Using the Shell - Acquiring Super User Power (pages 59-62) provides a very clear explanation of su and sudo as they apply to Ubuntu, and how to gain su, which in Ubuntu, is not setup for use by default.

[kbunt]

Re: I hate sudo

Knowledge is power, and the amount of power one has is proportional to the knowledge one has gained. If you find your power lacking, acquire more knowledge.

"Free (as in free beer)." There is always a cost associated with acquiring anything, even if the cost is only measured in how much time one spends on getting it. I would recommend purchasing Ubuntu Linux Toolbox, 1000+ Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users, Christopher Negus & Francois Caen, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

This is an excellent reference/resource to have next to your PC - I have it (among other useful books) and refer to it often. Chapter 3: Using the Shell - Acquiring Super User Power (pages 59-62) provides a very clear explanation of su and sudo as they apply to Ubuntu, and how to gain su, which in Ubuntu, is not setup for use by default.

That looks like a good book. I collected a lot of Ubuntu/Linux commands links.

My problem was something to do with the users/groups actually and not directly due to sudo but I don't think sudo is better or preferable to su.

Thanks for the reference, though.

I think 'sudo bash' is a good way to go to 'su' though (I think).

[kubicle]

Re: I hate sudo

I think 'sudo bash' is a good way to go to 'su' though (I think).

In most cases, 'sudo -i' is better than 'sudo bash'.

'sudo bash' (and also 'sudo -s') will give you a 'semi-root' terminal (mixed root terminal and user environment, which may lead to problems)

'sudo -i' will give you a 'true' root environment similar to what you get with 'su'

[Snowhog]

Re: I hate sudo

In most cases, 'sudo -i' is better than 'sudo bash'.

'sudo bash' (and also 'sudo -s') will give you a 'semi-root' terminal (mixed root terminal and user environment, which may lead to problems)

'sudo -i' will give you a 'true' root environment similar to what you get with 'su'

How can you tell the difference? I 'tested' both from a console. After typing sudo bash and typing in my pwd I have the root prompt: ~#
Typing whoami shows:
root
Typing echo $PATH shows:
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin

Typing exit to return to my user prompt (~$) and then typing sudo -i and entering my pwd I get the root prompt again. Typing whoami again shows I'm root. Typing echo $PATH shows:
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin

The path is no different in either scenario, but is different than my non-root user path:
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

[kubicle]

Re: I hate sudo

How can you tell the difference?

Try, for example, 'echo $HOME' on both and you'll see the difference ('sudo bash' uses /home/username as home directory instead of /root).

[Snowhog]

Re: I hate sudo

Thank you. I see how running sudo bash instead of sudo -i could cause problems, even possibly, very serious problems. If one runs sudo bash, you gain super user powers, but are operating in the non-root users home directory. Running sudo -i instead, gives you super user powers and puts you in the /root home directory.

[MoonRise]

Re: I hate sudo

That's good to know. I've heard of people screwing up their HOME directories and didn't know how. I wonder if it was due to something like talked about here. Yep, Knowledge is Power!

[kbunt]

Re: I hate sudo

Knowledge is power, and the amount of power one has is proportional to the knowledge one has gained. If you find your power lacking, acquire more knowledge.

"Free (as in free beer)." There is always a cost associated with acquiring anything, even if the cost is only measured in how much time one spends on getting it. I would recommend purchasing Ubuntu Linux Toolbox, 1000+ Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users, Christopher Negus & Francois Caen, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

This is an excellent reference/resource to have next to your PC - I have it (among other useful books) and refer to it often. Chapter 3: Using the Shell - Acquiring Super User Power (pages 59-62) provides a very clear explanation of su and sudo as they apply to Ubuntu, and how to gain su, which in Ubuntu, is not setup for use by default.

Thanks for the reference and info, Snowhog!

The book looks good. Lots of info.