To All,

Here is my question. How can I give someone Root privileges without having to go into a shell and use the su command. For example, in Windows I can just go into Users in the Control Panel and give who I want Administrator privileges. Is there a way to do this in Linux? More specifically, is there a way to do it in SuSE 9.2 Pro? I want to give my profile total access to the computer, like Root does, but am unable to because I can't find how to give myself root status. I am therefor stuck with logging on as root (which isn't a big problem) but I don't really want to have to. Also, when if I create a new user is there a way to give them root privileges? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

-dumbsheep

You REALLY don't want to do that, particularly not for
an account that uses a graphical interface... stick with
su, if you have a few root tasks you need to do often
(and they can't be automated) use sudo ...


Cheers,
Tink

Is there any chance we could just beg you not to want to do this in the first place? normal user accounts are there to stop dumb users doing dumb things. I'd say 75% of the time i'm infront of my Linux machines, I am a very dumb user. I'm and very glad i need to su to do heavy stuff. if there are a few key things you need to do, then try using sudo instead, to allow your otherwise normal user account to access a few extra programs.

Please stop reading now.

If you really want to create an additional account with root-like access, you should find you already have a group on your system called "Wheel". this group is the group that root also belongs to. add your user to this group and lo...

You're right, it probably isn't the best move. But can someone tell me for my knowledge then? So I know how to do it just in case for some reason I ever need to. Thank you again!

-dumbsheep

Great thanks! So what is sudo? I've never heard of it before. What's its purpose? Thanks.

-dumbsheep

man sudo
;}

It will let users specified in /etc/sudoers execute commands
specified in the same file with root's privileges (with or without
entering the users own password) ...

E.g. one could then do
sudo useradd
as if one was root ... the big advantage of this approach is
that you're forced to make a conscious decision, and even
if you accidentally do something silly like
rm -rf *
while you're in / nothing much will happen (except for the
deletion of your home, of course, if you're not quick with a
Ctrl-C) ... that shows that rm is not a command you'd want
in sudoers ;)



Cheers,
Tink

it has a text file which lists what users can use which admin level programs. you've probably already got it installed. check the sudo manpage for details.

it's a software you can download. and in it's config file you can give certain users/groups access to certain commands that only root would usually have access to.

http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/

from that site... the definition of sudo is "superuser do"