[colug-432] Psudo Sudo Su

[Steve VanSlyck]

Any comment on why I can "su" but not "sudo" - perhaps sudo isn't installed?

----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Potter <spp at unixsa.net>
To: colug-432 at colug.net
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:53:13 -0500
Subject: Re: [colug-432] Psudo Sudo Su

> On 2/21/2011 2:55 PM, Steve VanSlyck wrote:
> > If I a stoopid person may ask a schmardt question....
> >
> > What is the difference between su and sudo? Should I expect to be able 
to
> > use both on every distro?
> 
> su is the "switch user" (or substitute user) command.  It allows you to 
> change your current user shell to another user ID.  It is original to 
> (Bell) Unix Seventh Edition from around 1978-79.  As long as you know 
> the password for the other account (or are currently the root user), you 
> can become that user and do anything that account can do.
> 
> sudo is a command that allows you to run a command as another user.  It 
> has stronger authorization control, allowing it to be set up so that a 
> user can only run a single command (even specific options or arguments) 
> as another use.  The person running sudo only needs to know their own 
> password, not the password of the privileged account.  It was written 
> for SUNY/Buffalo to be used on (Berkeley) Unix around 1980.
> 
> Generally, you would give someone sudo to a specific command, such as 
> "sudo -u apache /usr/sbin/apachectl restart"; the command "sudo -u root 
> /bin/sh" might be seen as almost equivalent (except you would know your 
> own password, rather than root's).
> 
> -spp
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