ok how do I include my username in the sudoers list?

Gotta use visudo as root.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...visudo-597400/

su
root password

visudo

under #User Priveledge Specification
you should see:
root ALL=(ALL) ALL

add:

username ALL=(ALL) ALL

and save

gives me this scenario:


carloslopez@CarlosLopez:~$ su
Password:
su: Authentication failure
carloslopez@CarlosLopez:~$ su
Password:
su: Authentication failure


I tried twice...how do I get past this authentication hurdle?

Hi

The above command is switch user which when entered with no username will default you to switching to root. Thus if you enter the above and enter the root password you will be switched to root.

This does not relate to sudoers. Adding your username to /etc/sudoers will allow you to run super user commands via the sudo command.

Thus for example when logged as an ordinary user; you can use sudo to edit the /etc/fstab file which belongs to root.

Say for example you're logged in as john you can thereafter do the following:

You enter your password for the john user, and you can now edit the file with super user priveleges; provided that john is in the sudoers file.