visudo: busy try again later

shariefbe · 12-23-2009, 05:59 AM

Hello
I just want to edit the sudoers file but when i tries to open that its showing some error

Code:

root@ariem-desktop:/usr/local/etc# sudo visudo
visudo: /etc/sudoers busy, try again later
root@ariem-desktop:/usr/local/etc#

i didnt find any sudoers.tmp file
Can anybody help me?

ongte · 12-23-2009, 07:18 AM

If you are already logged in as root. You don't need to type 'sudo' in front of 'visudo'.

~sHyLoCk~ · 12-23-2009, 07:41 AM

Why not use some other editors like nano?

Code:

nano /etc/sudoers

shariefbe · 12-23-2009, 08:01 AM

Yes it works fine for me. Thanks a lot

tredegar · 12-23-2009, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Yes it works fine for me. Thanks a lot

... But you may not get the results you expect. From man visudo:

Code:

NAME
       visudo - edit the sudoers file

SYNOPSIS
       visudo [-c] [-q] [-s] [-V] [-f sudoers]

DESCRIPTION
       visudo edits the sudoers file in a safe fashion, analogous to vipw(8).
       visudo locks the sudoers file against multiple simultaneous edits, pro‐
       vides basic sanity checks, and checks for parse errors.  If the sudoers
       file is currently being edited you will receive a message to try again
       later.

So somebody is already editing the file.