Adding a user to sudoers file

[ajamison]

Ok i read somewhere that you can use the 'visudo' command to add a user or group to the sudoers list file to allow for some root procedures (like yum and rpm installation) to be done using the sudo command with no password.

I can load visudo however after adding my user following the root entry as an example i try to save my changes and exit but i never seem to have the changes merged to the sudoers file.

I do get an error message saying "no changes saves add ! to override" what is the command to save in visudo?

The manual entry "man visudo" does not help at all

[Seve]

Hello:
Does this guide help ?
Setup Sudo

Seve

[ajamison]

yes very much so thank you it is alot easier that way then the way i was attempting it

[Waggoneer]

Also a lot easier than using the visudo program.

[Mistoffeles]

visudo isn't actually what you use to do the editing, visudo just "checks" the file when you are done. If your changes are not valid, it doesn't update the actual sudoers file (you were actually editing a temporary copy of sudoers).

The actual editor you are using is vi (or vim or whatever variant of vi your distro uses), so if you know how to vi you're good to go.

Edit: I'm not sure if this is so, but if you continue to have problems with sudoers not accepting changes, make it temporarily writable (chmod +w /etc/sudoers) and then change it back when you are done (chmod -w /etc/sudoers).

[bronxbomberz41]

Thanks that worked for me. I've used ubuntu for a couple years and after the Karmic update i've been having lots of issues with wireless, flash, restricted drivers, etc so after some debian soul searching I tried Fedora. never encountered the sudoers thing in ubuntu

[darksideforge]

Thanks that worked for me. I've used ubuntu for a couple years and after the Karmic update i've been having lots of issues with wireless, flash, restricted drivers, etc so after some debian soul searching I tried Fedora. never encountered the sudoers thing in ubuntu

This is EXACTLY the problem I've been having; I was an Ubuntu user since 8.10 when 9.10 started giving me grief (although I dabbled with F10 back in July for a bit).

I'm also realizing that, every time "we" used to use "sudo" in Ubuntu, "we" are now supposed to use "su" in Fedora...and there are all sorts of addenders to "su".

Graphical logins as root aren't allowed with the Gnome login screen, but supposedly you can switch over and use the KDE login screen (with a GDE) and graphically login that way...but I haven't tried it yet. I rather wish F12 were more like CentOS 5.4 where you can just manipulate the entire system as root and then logout/login as a different user....much easier for Admin tasks, but also less secure I suppose.

I also don't like the whole "visudo" element...am currently trying to learn how to work around that with gedit...i HATE vi/vim!

[The Mishanator]

darksideforge...

if u want, i wrote a script to fix that

[vallimar]

There was a recent change to sudo that adds a config directory so you don't have to touch the main sudoers file at all, just dump a file into /etc/sudoers.d/<filename>, set the perms to 0440, and provided there aren't typos, should be all set. You will need at least sudo-1.7.2p2-3 at present to enable this. The 'sudoers.d' directory won't yet exist if your sudo package is too old yet.

[root@linux sudoers.d]# rpm -q sudo        
sudo-1.7.2p2-3.fc12.x86_64
[root@linux sudoers.d]# ls -l
total 4.0K
-r--r----- 1 root root 103 Feb 12 11:30 wheel
[root@linux sudoers.d]# cat wheel 
## Allows people in group wheel to run all commands (without password)
%wheel  ALL=(ALL)       NOPASSWD: ALL

[The Mishanator]

make /etc/sudoers writable (make sure u undo this when ur done) and

echo "username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

[bodhi.zazen]

visudo is useful as it checks for syntax errors. Not as critical on Fedora as you can fall back to su if there is a config error (not true with Ubuntuu as the root account is locked by default, so one would need to boot to recovery mode ... ).

At any rate, if you do not like vi/vim, set your editor to something else, either on the command line or in /root/.bashrc

export EDITOR=gedit
export EDITOR=nano

take your pick

Now if you are familiar with the syntax of /etc/sudoers there is nothing wrong with using the alternate methods.

[Resonance]

vi is simple but not obvious.

#visudo
using the arrows travel down the page until you see
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
To add your username just under this type i (This is insert mode)
MyUname ALL=(ALL) ALL
hit Esc to escape from insert mode and enter command mode
Type shift colon x (:x) to exit and save changes
Type shift colon q (:q) to exit without saving

Vi Cheat Sheet

[Resonance]

There seems to be some disagreement in other threads about the modification and the security implications of the sudoers file.
Curious about the statements and methods described by posters I hopped on the google train.
My first couple of searches didn't reveal much useful additional info, but later found a good site that explains everything from modification to security implications.

Using sudo

And just in case the internet goes out, I saved a local copy.

[srinidhi]

Hi I am Newbie to Fedora, I tried to set a username(Srinidhi) as a sudoer, using the command,
" echo 'Srinidhi ALL=(ALL) ALL' >> /etc/su"
it did worked but the problem is when i execute any command with sudo it says
"Srinidhi is not allowed to run sudo on localhost"

Where is the mistake being done?

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 PM CDT ----------

Guys I could figure it out. Went to sudo file using visudo and set the user profile as sudoer now it s working.
Thanks Anyways

[kurtdriver]

Hi I am Newbie to Fedora, I tried to set a username(Srinidhi) as a sudoer, using the command,
" echo 'Srinidhi ALL=(ALL) ALL' >> /etc/su"
it did worked but the problem is when i execute any command with sudo it says
"Srinidhi is not allowed to run sudo on localhost"

Where is the mistake being done?

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 PM CDT ----------

Guys I could figure it out. Went to sudo file using visudo and set the user profile as sudoer now it s working.
Thanks Anyways

Glad it's working for you, the reason it didn't earlier is that you were redirecting to the wrong filepath, to /etc/su rather than /etc/sudoers. Now you have a file in /etc/ that is of little use to you.