setup sudo root for new server

[Karl Auer]

On Sat, 2025-05-31 at 23:10 -0400, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
> Or after the user ssh login, then "su".  Which is what I do when I
> have lots of root stuff to do.  Gets tiring to always type in sudo.

Running su directly requires that there be a working root password,
known to the user executing su. If more than one user is using su
directly, then you perforce have a shared root password. This means you
cannot change the root password without having to inform all those
users.

Using sudo for su is safer, because no root password is needed, no root
password is shared; everyone just uses their own password:

   sudo su
   [... commands as root ...]
   exit

sudo is generally safer because its use can be very precisely
controlled via the /etc/sudoers file. With su, it's all or nothing.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au, he/him)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer