How to create a superuser in Kubuntu?

[Jonas Norlander]

On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 7:54 PM, Marcelo Magno T. Sales
<mmtsales at gmail.com> wrote:
> Em Segunda-feira 05 Outubro 2009, Myriam Schweingruber escreveu:
>> Hi Marcelo
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 19:10, Marcelo Magno T. Sales
> <mmtsales at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > I've read some articles about creating superusers in Ubuntu, but
>> > all of them rely on an option in Gnome User Manager that allows you
>> > to configure an user as an administrator.
>> > In KDE User Manager, the available tool in Kubuntu, there is no
>> > such an option. How do I create a superuser in Kubuntu?
>>
>> Well, first of all, you don't need to, since the first user
>> automatically has sudo rights.
>>
>> You can work simply by starting the command line applications with
>> 'sudo <command>', it will then ask for your password. The default
>> timeout is set to 5 minutes. You can also start a konsole with 'sudo
>> -i' to have a permanent root konsole, although this is not
>> recommended.
>>
>> To start GUI applications you start those with 'kdesudo <command>'.
>>
>> You can find more information about sudo in the manpages.
>>
>> If you still want to make a root account despite these possibilities,
>> the proceedings are exactly the same as for Gnome, since the root
>> account is independent of the GUI interface.
>
> Hi, Myriam, thanks for your response.
>
> I know about sudo, but I need two user accounts who are able to
> administer this machine. If possible, I would prefer they do not share
> one account to perform administrative tasks.
> I have also read that I could activate the root account by setting up a
> password to it with passwd, but I think that the Ubuntu way (using sudo)
> is better.
> However, the gnome user manager has an option in the GUI that allows me
> to create an user account and set it up as and administrator using only
> the GUI, without the need to edit /etc/sudoers directly.
> I was wondering if wasn't there a way to do the same with the GUI tools
> provided with Kubuntu. I see that, in /etc/sudoers, there is the
> following line:
> %admin ALL=(ALL) ALL
>
> My understanding is that members of the admin group are able to
> administer the machine using sudo. Is that right? Is it enough to make a
> user a member of this group if I want he/she to be able to administer
> the machine?

If you want a user to be able to gain root privileges with sudo that's
the way. You also has a group adm that can read the logs. You can also
use sudo to make a user able to only run a special command. There is
some examples in the sudoers manual.

/ Jonas