root in FC 10

[Todd Zullinger]

Gene Heskett wrote:
>>--- On Sat, 12/6/08, Todd Zullinger <tmz at pobox.com> wrote:
>>> Gene Heskett wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Apparently so, but then the install doesn't add the one user it
>>>> asks you to define to the sudoers file, and to fix that requires
>>>> a reboot to single mode.
>>>
>>> No it doesn't.  You run "su -c visudo" and add the user you want.
>
> And I'll repeat myself one more time here folks, it asked for the
> root passwd when I tried that, but no root passwd had been set
> during the install.

I've yet to see a Fedora install that does not ask you for a root
password.  Sorry if I don't buy it.

> The only user defined had a passwd ok, but the error message when I
> was that user, and used that users passwd was "not in sudoers file,
> permission denied".

You'd get that message from sudo, not from su.  You need to use visudo
(via su -c "visudo") to add a user to the sudoers file.

> That was not the command I issued that spit that back at me, but I
> don't think the command is germain to this discussion.

Yes, it most certainly does.  There is quite a difference between su
and sudo.  If you can tell me how you do an install that does not have
a root password set (without going to some effort to disable the root
password), I'll listen.  But I'm not holding my breath.

> In fact it was my attempt to vim ifcfg-eth0 to fix the networking
> that wasn't that brought this to my attention.  I couldn't save the
> changes as the only user, and sudo denied the only user because
> there weas no entry in the sudoers file for that user.  Ergo there
> was no way I could effect the required config changes without
> rebooting to single mode.

I'll say it again.  You need to setup the sudoers file before you can
use sudo.  You would do so by running "su -c visudo" which will prompt
you for the root password and then let you edit the sudoers file.

> Maybe there is a better, more "politicaly correct" way to do it

There's nothing political about it.  There is a correct way to setup
sudo, and that's what I'm trying to show you.

> but a reboot to single mode has been my preferred choice since I
> installed RedHat 5.0 a decade plus back up the log.  I *know* that
> works.

That's fine, but it's definitely the hard way to do it.  It is most
certainly not required that you reboot into single user mode.

> Now, is that clear enough to convince "Houston" that we have a
> problem?

The only problem I see is that you're trying to use sudo before
setting it up and confusing su and sudo. :)

-- 
Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xBEAF0CE3 | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn
what is untrue.
    -- Antisthenes

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