Thank you very much for this very clear explaination.
Denis
Basil Fowler dixit:
> You have confused the two commands.
>
> su means "switch user" Let us assume that you have three users alpha, bravo
> and root. Let us assume for the moment that you are logged in as user alpha
> and alpha's password is ahpla. Let us also assume that the password for bravo
> is ovarb, and the password for root is master. I know that these passwords are
> ridiculous, but this is for example.
>
> I know that you are using a Debian based distro (Ubuntu) because you are
> invoking the apt-get command. In such distros the first user alpha is set up
> as a master user account and often the root account is disabled. This is good
> for single user machines, but is a PITA for multiuser setups.
>
> When you use su, if it has no arguments, it assumes that you wish to invoke
> the root account and will demand Root account's password (in this case MASTER)
> If you follow su with an account name (such as bravo) will will be prompted
> for bravo's password (in this case ovarb). When the correct password for the
> TARGET account is entered, you will then be running as the target account (to
> leave, type 'exit' or control-d)
>
> Now, with distros such as Ubuntu, the root account is disabled, so su does not
> work. A correct password (equivalent to MASTER) does not exist. You have to
> type in sudo su. You then will have a root shell, and you can run "make
> aptget".
>
> sudo is a program that is designed to solve a difficult administrative
> problem. How do you give an ordinary user power to perform an action (such as
> managing printers) that normally requires root privileges without giving him
> /her complete control over the machine?
>
> Sudo looks up a special file - readable only by root - /etc/sudoers, which
> lists who can do what under which conditions, and allows or denies the desired
> action accordingly.
>
> In the case of Ubuntu, the /etc/sudoers file states that the first user
> (alpha) is given permission to do anything provided that ALPHA's password is
> entered, and everyone else (bravo) nothing.
>
> To modify the /etc/sudoers file a special editor (visudo) is used, because any
> error in the format of the file will block sudo - this is intentional.
>
> To activate the root account - not to be done unless you know what you are
> doing, the /etc/passwd file has to be modified. A root password will have to
> be created, and the shell command (usually /bin/false) changed to /bin/bash.
>
> RedHat based distros such as Mandriva have a separate root password at
> installation, and each user has a separate password. They use kdesu and su.
> Sudo has to specially downloaded, because it is only needed in exceptional
> cases.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Basil Fowler
>
>
>
> On Thursday 24 Dec 2009 08:35:24 spir wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm aware this question is ~ OT, not really kde related, but have no idea
> > where else to post it, and surely many people here know the answer. To
> > install new software (actually, the language Io, for which there seems to
> > be no package), I had to type:
> >
> > su -c "sudo make aptget"
> >
> > This will not work. I'm asked for a password, then get "su: Authentication
> > failure". Well, this simply cannot be, for I have only one admin password
> > AFAIK and it works fine for sudo and kdesudo. I tried an old password I
> > had long time ago (changed to make it more difficult), in case the one for
> > 'su' may have sticked to old times while the one for sudo has changed, but
> > it is not accepted neither.
> >
> > I take the opportunity to ask about the use of 'su' in a normal user
> > session. Also, is there another way to perform the above action?
> >
> > Denis
> > ________________________________
> >
> > la vita e estrany
> >
> > http://spir.wikidot.com/
> > ___________________________________________________
> > This message is from the kde mailing list.
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> > Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
> > More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.
> >
> ___________________________________________________
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>
________________________________
la vita e estrany
http://spir.wikidot.com/
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