Re: PermitRootLogin=yes versus su

From: Ian Gregory (i.h.gregory@herts.ac.uk)
Date: 01/26/03 

From: Ian Gregory <i.h.gregory@herts.ac.uk>
Date: 26 Jan 2003 21:26:15 GMT

Bill Unruh wrote:
 
> sudo is appropriate if you want to give certain users the right to run
> some program with root priviledges who you do not want to have
> unrestricted access to root. It makes no sense at all for the person who
> really acts as system administrator.

Sorry, but it makes PERFECT sense to me.

I run a development machine where I am the only one who ever accesses
it. I do admin stuff on it every day which requires having UID 0 but I
don't even remember what my root password is. When I need to do root
stuff I just type "sudo bash" and I get my favorite shell with my
current environment and UID 0. It is NOT the same as logging in as
root because the root shell never gets executed. Simple, convenient
and encourages good habits - don't knock it if you haven't tried it!

Of course I have to find my root password when I need to boot single
user but that is pretty rare.

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