[SOLVED] Question about sudo

circus78 · 03-12-2014, 05:07 AM

Hi,

what is the difference between

Code:

sudo bash

and

Code:

su -

if the goal is to become root?

pan64 · 03-12-2014, 05:16 AM

see man su and man sudo
su - will give you a login shell (of root) if you know the password of root
sudo bash will give you a root shell if you are allowed to execute sudo

rtmistler · 03-12-2014, 07:08 AM

The difference being that when you invoke "su" you are required to know the root password. If you use sudo (1) your user ID has to have that privilege, and (2) you will be using "your user password" instead of the root password.

This way a user can perform super-user level activities without knowing the root password for the machine. If you check the manpage for sudoers you can learn about how to control the users, the commands they can execute as root, and the conditions under which they may be allowed to do this.

sundialsvcs · 03-12-2014, 08:10 AM

Not so fast ... on terribly-many systems (including Macs), you can type sudo su, then enter your password

... and Presto ... You Are Root(ly).

Now, there is a way to prevent that: "normal" users can't do it. Unfortunately, the default user on the unit as-shipped can.

chrism01 · 03-14-2014, 01:27 AM

Ditto Ubuntu as I understand it ... that's definitely NOT what sudo was created for ...sigh ...