command permissions
 

Is there a way to make a command available to all users (like mount, chmod,etc....)? I realize that this is a huge security risk. I am asking for the sake of learning.

Is sudo the only way to do this, or is there a way to actually change the command? Sudo is more of a wrapper.

"Is there a way to make a command available to all users (like mount, chmod,etc....)?" I realize that this is a huge security risk. I am asking for the sake of learning."

The commands you mention are available to users on my SuSE system. Whether SuSE makes such commands available to users depends on the level of security that I choose at install time. I seem to remember that Fedora gives you the same choice.

If you want a command to be available to a user then be sure that the command is on the user's PATH and set the command's permissions to 755.

"I realize that this is a huge security risk."

Not necessarily. It depends on what you want to allow users to do. A command is only a security risk if it is available to users when you don't want them to use the command.

"Is sudo the only way to do this, or is there a way to actually change the command? Sudo is more of a wrapper."

sudo is one way to do it, but not the only way. Sudo allows you to give different sets of root privileges to different users. For example you could use sudo to allow you and your wife to shut down the computer, but not the kids.


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Steve Stites