[OT] sudo, why not su?

[Ed Cogburn]

MrKnisely wrote:

> Magnus Therning wrote:
> 
>>On Mon, Aug 08, 2005 at 11:14:19AM -0700, Nathan Howell wrote:
>>  
>>
>>>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*.
>>>    
>>>
>>
>>This will be my very last post on this topic. I've already found the
>>answer I was looking for[1] and I have no real interest in continuing
>>the discussion for the discussion's sake.
>>
>>However, if you had read through the whole thread (I'll be the first to
>>admit it hasn't been the easiest one to follow) you would have seen that
>>_in the scenario considered_ the only difference between 'sudo' and 'su'
>>(if there was a solution using 'su') would have been what password was
>>used.
>>
>>You are correct in saying that in the general case that isn't the only
>>difference. That is because 'sudo' solves a more general problem than
>>'su' does.
>>
>>/M
>>
>>1. http://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2005-August/045243.html
>>
>>  
>>
> Wow, this says it all.  It's a bad perception that "the only difference
> between 'sudo' and 'su' (if there was a solution using 'su') would have
> been what password was used."
> 
> That is just plain wrong, and that is where the misunderstanding lies.
> 
> At any rate, great thread.  It's not often we deal with ideas and not
> problems.


Well that depends on the value of the ideas, now doesn't it?

This thread is so strange, I'm just going to stay away from it...

:)