[SOLVED] Sudo not working even when installed

Hello, I installed sudo but it is not working:

user@debian:~$ sudo ufw status
[sudo] password for user: 
user is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.

I tried editing /etc/sudoers with the

gedit

command and also

gedit visudo

and I added the username, but it didn't work.

Most likely, the line you added to the sudoers file does not do what you want it to do. And I doubt that gedit visudo is the right command for changing the sudoers file.

You really need to check the man pages for sudo. NOTHING should ever edit the sudoers file other than visudo, and that should only work for root.

Make sure that you read the man pages about the sudoers file format. Visudo should check the format and warn you if you have wrong syntax, but it cannot detect incorrect logic.

Installation of sudo does not automatically configure sudo, so after installation it will only work for root (which really does not need it, but allows you to configure the users and commands you need.


Finally, there is a log file for sudo and debian has it (by default, I believe) log to /var/auth. Whenever you bring a problem here it is wise to check the log files first and include any log data that pertains.

I do hope that this helps.

Originally Posted by whois1230 Hello, I installed sudo but it is not working: user@debian:~$ sudo ufw status [sudo] password for user: user is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported. I tried editing /etc/sudoers with the gedit command and also gedit visudo and I added the username, but it didn't work.

You shouldn't edit the sudoers file directly in case you type something incorrectly. It's recommended to use 'visudo'.

If you want to use gedit instead of vi to edit this file:

EDITOR=gedit visudo

Note the environment variable EDITOR will only be set to gedit for your current session.

It would be helpful if you could post the change you made to the sudoers file.

I have the following:

root ALL=(ALL) ALL Mechanikx ALL=(ALL) ALL

And 'sudo' works.

I found a guide on the web that helped me https://www.vultr.com/docs/how-to-us...os-and-freebsd After creating a new user account, sudo started working. I deleted the user account and rebooted my computer and it still works.

What do you mean you installed sudo? What distribution are you using? Are you sure it was not already installed?

Assuming that your 'installation' did not cause any problems, you do not need to edit the sudoers file. In fact gedit or any other editor should never be used to modify the sudoers file. In fact the beginning of the file states

# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.

and that is exactly what must be done. But you do not need to do that I strongly suspect.

You probably are not a member of the sudo group. Check that with

grep <your username> /etc/group

If there is not a sudo line in the return, you are not a member of the group. Become a member of the group with AS ROOT

passwd <your username> sudo

Now you are a member of the sudo group and can use sudo. You may have to log out and then log back in for it to take effect.

Originally Posted by agillator What do you mean you installed sudo? What distribution are you using? Are you sure it was not already installed?

The OP installed Debian and supplied a root password during installation (I reckon anyway). In this case, sudo is not installed during the installation process.

https://wiki.debian.org/sudo

I see. I did not know Debian did not install sudo, I thought it did. The rest of my post should still be valid, though, assuming his installation had no problems and his attempt to edit sudoers did not was unsuccessful. As some above suggested he really should remove his edits if they are there.

I'll also note that there were responses posted while I was composing mine and checking to make sure I was giving valid information, so I did not see his response that is just above mine.

Originally Posted by agillator I see. I did not know Debian did not install sudo, I thought it did. The rest of my post should still be valid, though, assuming his installation had no problems and his attempt to edit sudoers did not was unsuccessful. As some above suggested he really should remove his edits if they are there.

From Squeeze onwards, it does install and configure sudo if you leave the root password blank on installation.

I am not knowledgeable about Debian but I assume that the idea is that if you enter a root password then you don't want to use the common modern distro paradigm of running your distro as an ordinary user and sudoing when you need admin privileges or, perhaps more likely, you will be setting up your users and their rights manually in your own time.

Or something like that. I only know about this behaviour because I was caught out myself setting up a Debian install a couple of years ago.

Sudo is not something you install. It's something you configure.

Debian expects you to use su to assume root privileges. See man su and man sudo for more.

Originally Posted by frankbell Sudo is not something you install. It's something you configure. Debian expects you to use su to assume root privileges. See man su and man sudo for more.

Codswallop, if I may so. From the Debian wiki I linked to earlier (my emphasis):

As of DebianSqueeze, if you give root an empty password during installation, sudo will be installed and the first user will be able to use it to gain root access (currently, the user will be added to the sudo group). The system will also configure gksu and aptitude to use sudo. You should still verify group membership after logging in as the installed user.

Straight from the horse's mouth, as they say.

This is not, and shouldn't be, an argument about the use of sudo. This should be about helping the OP and explaining the situation, not expounding our personal opinions.