Su problem....

[Darkstar]

When I try to run Automatix2, Adept, and Krusader root file manager, I get the error msg. "Su returned an error." Nothing else. Whats has happened??

HELP!!

[Tynach]

Re: Su problem....

Ubuntu/Kubuntu doesn't use su. Use sudo instead. (just put "do" at the end of "su.")

[penguin.ch]

Re: Su problem....

"Su returned an error."

My two cents :P

Birdy aka littleDrHouse

--

Postscript: reference updated

[mchuskie]

Re: Su problem....

And my two British pence in response to that... :P

(K)Ubuntu ignores (read: corrupts) the traditional approach to root access by default

As I understand it, su and sudo grew up in parallel. (I could be mistaken, though.)

the right to “do like root does” (aka sudo) is granted to ordinary users!

Uh, don't both su and sudo do this? With su, you need to know the root password. With sudo, you need to be in the sudoers file (or is it the Admin group? I forget.) The idea of both is that you (being an ordinary user) use either su or sudo with appropriate authorisation when you need to do tasks as root.

From my (paranoid) point of view, that’s a major threat to the operating system’s security as well as to it’s stability (read: life expectancy) - as every experienced administrator well knows, it’s sound and save to keep regular (read: simple-minded) users as far away from the root account as by every means possible.

Then don't allow more users than necessary to use sudo. It's the same as not letting more people than necessary know the root password, except you can revoke it without telling everyone else the new root password.

I never used to like sudo over su, but it's grown on me as a method. sudo also has advantages in situations where more than one person needs to be granted root access (eg a server with multiple admins) - as you can then log what each user performs as root, in case something goes wrong and you need to retrace steps (and point the finger where needed).

[penguin.ch]

Re: Su problem....

I never used to like sudo over su, but it's grown on me as a method. sudo also has advantages in situations where more than one person needs to be granted root access (eg a server with multiple admins) - as you can then log what each user performs as root, in case something goes wrong and you need to retrace steps (and point the finger where needed).

A very good argument in favour of "sudoism" (and definitely worth an amendment to my little pamphelt on this topic ...) thank you for pointing this out to me

Birdy