What is the difference between "su" and "sudo" ?
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From: Barry Margolin on 31 Dec 2009 00:33 In article <4b3b98b9$0$6580$9b4e6d93(a)newsspool3.arcor-online.net>, kmlincoln100(a)hotmail.com (Matthew Lincoln) wrote: > Sorry for this newbie question: > > at is the difference between "su" and "sudo" command ? > > Matthew su requires you to enter the target user's password, and then starts a subshell (or executes the shell with a command line, if you use the -c option). It can be used to execute any commands, so long as you know the target user's password (and if the target is root, you also have to be in the wheel group). sudo requires you to enter your own password. It checks a configuration file (/etc/sudoers) to determine who is allowed to execute different commands. -- Barry Margolin, barmar(a)alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***
From: Robert Riches on 31 Dec 2009 00:38 On 2009-12-31, Barry Margolin <barmar(a)alum.mit.edu> wrote: > In article <4b3b98b9$0$6580$9b4e6d93(a)newsspool3.arcor-online.net>, > kmlincoln100(a)hotmail.com (Matthew Lincoln) wrote: > >> Sorry for this newbie question: >> >> at is the difference between "su" and "sudo" command ? >> >> Matthew > > su requires you to enter the target user's password, and then starts a > subshell (or executes the shell with a command line, if you use the -c > option). It can be used to execute any commands, so long as you know > the target user's password (and if the target is root, you also have to > be in the wheel group). > > sudo requires you to enter your own password. It checks a configuration > file (/etc/sudoers) to determine who is allowed to execute different > commands. Whether you have to enter a password, and which password you have to enter, is configured. From what I have read, the thing of entering your own password appears to be a Ubuntuism. I use sudo all the time and have never seen the practice of entering my own password to use sudo. -- Robert Riches spamtrap42(a)verizon.net (Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)
From: Kevin Collins on 30 Dec 2009 16:43 On 2009-12-30, Matthew Lincoln <kmlincoln100(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Sorry for this newbie question: > > at is the difference between "su" and "sudo" command ? The "su" command is a standard command to all (at least all I am aware of) Unix and Linux operating systems. It allows a user to "switch user" (hence the name "su") by providing the password for that user. The root user can use su to switch user without providing a password. The "sudo" command is an open-source, optional utility command that allows the root user to configure commands to be run as another user by particular users by authenticating with *their own* password (or optionally, no password). HTH, Kevin
From: Golden California Girls on 30 Dec 2009 19:51 Matthew Lincoln wrote: > Sorry for this newbie question: > > at is the difference between "su" and "sudo" command ? man man then look them up!
From: Moe Trin on 31 Dec 2009 11:00
On 31 Dec 2009, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.misc, in article <slrnhjoe69.h4o.spamtrap42(a)one.localnet>, Robert Riches wrote: >Barry Margolin <barmar(a)alum.mit.edu> wrote: >> sudo requires you to enter your own password. It checks a >> configuration file (/etc/sudoers) to determine who is allowed to >> execute different commands. >Whether you have to enter a password, and which password you have >to enter, is configured. Yup >From what I have read, the thing of entering your own password >appears to be a Ubuntuism http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/man/sudoers.html That's the sudo'ers manual. See the entry for rootpw rootpw If set, sudo will prompt for the root password instead of the password of the invoking user. This flag is off by default. as well as the 'runaspw' and 'targetpw' entries. Asking for the users password has been the default in many distributions, and if you are compiling from source. That goes back well before Ubuntu appeared on the scene. One reason why Ubuntu uses this mode is that by intent there is no valid root password. This is to prevent the windoze default mode of running as the administrative user. Old guy |