Root etc. (was Re: DD is not working )

[Peter Garrett]

On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 22:29:37 +0100
"(``-_-´´) -- Fernando" <ubuntu at bugabundo.net> wrote:

> one more tip: stop recommending users to use "sudo su".
> Running "su" is more then enought to be root.

Except that on a default Ubuntu install,  su by itself will not give you
root, since the root account is "password locked."

su can certainly be used to "switch user" ( which is what "su" means) , but
not to switch to root, unless you have created a root password with

sudo passwd root   ( or just sudo passwd )   or done an "expert" install,
which asks to create a root password, or at least used to, the last time I
looked...

That said, the  method on Ubuntu to get a root shell with correct
root environment  is

sudo -i   (equivalent to sudo su - )   not    

sudo su  (equivalent to sudo -s )

none of these methods are encouraged, though. See

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo



Peter