sudoers

Where’s my SUDO?

Installing different flavors of Linux can be fun and exciting at times.  And it can have you scratching your head.

Take for instance, my first Linux install was Ubuntu.  Of course, this is a nice intro to anyone new to the Linux game, especially with it’s nice graphical interface.  Now when I looked for help on the net, I was directed to use the SUDO command whenever I needed to issue a command requiring Super User abilities.  This was a nice feature and worked as expected.

Now even though Ubuntu is a derivitive of Debian, it is not exactly the same.  It apparently came packaged with SUDO, whereas when I went to install Debian, it did not.  Shortly after my install, I attempted to install or configure certain things, and I was given the response that the SUDO command was not found.  I thought I had broken something.  But alas, all was not lost.

Super User

Of course, what SUDO does is issues the command that follows as if you were logged in as Super User.  Now, I had to install SUDO, but without SUDO.  Easy enough.  Just log in as Super User with the “su” command.  Of course, the password you setup for the super user is necessary.

Once in, no SUDO or anything else is needed to use your godlike skills.  Issue the APTITUDE INSTALL SUDO (or apt-get if you prefer) to install SUDO.  Make sure to exit out of super user when you’re done.

Now that you’ve got SUDO installed, you may still have trouble, this being due to the fact that you are not on the list of privileged users to issue Super User commands at will.  You must add yourself to the /etc/sudoers file.  Oh darn, you can’t do that without SUDO abilities.  Or can you.  Oh yeah, never should have exited out of Super User mode so quickly.  I guess I did tell you to, did I not?  That’s okay, back in, edit the file with your favorite editor and voila, exit out of Super User again.  We’re done now, I promise.

While you’re in the sudoers file, find the line that reads # User privilege specification and copy/paste the line below that reads root    ALL=(ALL) ALL and then change root to your name.  You can add other users this way as well, however the more you add, the more problems you invite.  It’s best to reserve this privilege only to those you trust.