How can I give myself root priv's as a user?

Mr. Hill · 06-11-2005, 01:41 PM

Hello. I was really stupid and got rid of Bash because I wanted to replace it with Zsh, well I shouldn't have done that simply because now everything is screwed and I can't even login as root to reinstall it. I am using Debian Sid and I was wondering if I could alter my account to enable me to use apt-get as a user and then once it's fixed I could change it back to make it where I do not have root abilities (a bit safer that way). I can't even startx - I'm writing in Links2, please help. Thanks for any help. By the way, I actually do enjoy doing stuff in a console, I don't care about X. I'm just a bit nervous that I can't login as root and use apt-get to get bash back. I have sudo on my box but I have no idea on how to set it up, I used sudo in Fedora and it was really great. Any help would be most appreciated. One more thing - I know this is the Newbie forum and this may or may not belong here specifically but I'm in Links and everything is going crazy, I like w3m but again; no root so no apt-get. Well thanks for the help.

max_sipos · 06-11-2005, 01:45 PM

For what it's worth, you can't set up sudo unless you have root access

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acid_kewpie · 06-11-2005, 01:47 PM

there's no nice way to do this, and i'm sure to can appreciate why it's a bad thing to be able to do if you can't be root. what you can do though is boot up linux into a single user mode, i.e. where only root exists (and next to nothing else works). just add a "1" or "single" to the boot command when you start loading up, at the lilo or grub screen. e to edit in grub, can't remember what it is for lilo offhand. then you'll quickly be dropped into a console as root.

Komakino · 06-11-2005, 02:43 PM

Why did you try to 'replace' bash with zsh? You can set in /etc/passwd to use a particular shell for a certain user, or use usermod to set it.

rickh · 06-11-2005, 03:58 PM

I'm not nearly as expert as the folks who've already addressed your problem, but couldn't you just go to a single user console with Ctrl-Alt-F1, and log in as root there?

twysm · 06-11-2005, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rickh
I'm not nearly as expert as the folks who've already addressed your problem, but couldn't you just go to a single user console with Ctrl-Alt-F1, and log in as root there?

He can't even do that...

IchBin · 06-11-2005, 05:32 PM

Cant you insert a install CD and go into rescue mode?

acid_kewpie · 06-12-2005, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by IchBin
Cant you insert a install CD and go into rescue mode?

could do, but don't need to at all. single user mode is much quicker.

IchBin · 06-12-2005, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by acid_kewpie
could do, but don't need to at all. single user mode is much quicker.

The reason I said that is because the guy above me said he couldn't login via single user mode.

Komakino · 06-12-2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by acid_kewpie
there's no nice way to do this, and i'm sure to can appreciate why it's a bad thing to be able to do if you can't be root. what you can do though is boot up linux into a single user mode, i.e. where only root exists (and next to nothing else works). just add a "1" or "single" to the boot command when you start loading up, at the lilo or grub screen. e to edit in grub, can't remember what it is for lilo offhand. then you'll quickly be dropped into a console as root.

Using what shell though? If he's buggered up bash, isn't it going to struggle to find a command interpreter?