[OT] sudo, why not su?

Nathan Howell nathan at crapbox.org
Mon Aug 8 18:14:19 UTC 2005


On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 09:12:22 +0100, Magnus Therning wrote:

> The difference is that I use sudo, and my colleague use su. I wanted to
> know exactly what the benefit of sudo is over su. In the most simple
> usage of sudo (as in a newly installed Ubuntu) the benefit is that sudo
> requires the user's password, su requires root's password. If su could,
> in some way, be made to require the calling user's password then that
> difference would disappear and, in that very simple scenario, su and
> sudo would be so similar that either could be used.

If the required password were the only difference, why would both options
exist? It wouldn't make sense for su to ask for your password to do its
thing, because with su you *become another user*. To do so, you need to
enter *that users password* to show that you are authorized to become
them. In contrast, sudo simply adds abilities to *your account*. In order
to use these extra abilities that have been granted to you, you must know
*your own password*.

Nathan





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