Sudo (superuser do) is a utility for UNIX- and Linux-based systems that provides an efficient way to give specific users permission to use specific system commands at the root (most powerful) level of the system. Sudo also logs all commands and arguments. Using sudo, a system administrator can:
- Give some users (or groups of users) the ability to run some (or all) commands at the root level of system operation
- Control which commands a user can use on each host
- See clearly from a log which users used which commands
- Using timestamp files, control the amount of time a user has to enter commands after they have entered their password and been granted appropriate privileges
The sudo configuration file is easy to create and to refer to.
This was last updated in October 1999