Sudo - wikipedia Sudo `` SUDO '' redirects here. For the non-profit organization, see Sudan Social Development Organization. sudo Developer ( s ) Todd C. Miller Stable release 1.8. 23 / April 30, 2018 ; 23 days ago ( 2018 - 04 - 30 ) Written in Operating system Unix - like Type Privilege authorization License ISC - style Website www.sudo.ws sudo ( / ˈsuːduː / or / ˈsuːdoʊ / ) is a program for Unix - like computer operating systems that allows users to run programs with the security privileges of another user, by default the superuser. It originally stood for `` superuser do '' as the older versions of sudo were designed to run commands only as the superuser. However, the later versions added support for running commands not only as the superuser but also as other ( restricted ) users, and thus it is also commonly expanded as `` substitute user do ''. Although the latter case reflects its current functionality more accurately, sudo is still often called `` superuser do '' since it is so often used for administrative tasks. Unlike the similar command su, users must, by default, supply their own password for authentication, rather than the password of the target user. After authentication, and if the configuration file, which is typically located at / etc / sudoers, permits the user access, the system invokes the requested command. The configuration file offers detailed access permissions, including enabling commands only from the invoking terminal ; requiring a password per user or group ; requiring re-entry of a password every time or never requiring a password at all for a particular command line. It can also be configured to permit passing arguments or multiple commands. Contents 1 History 2 Design 3 Configuration 4 Impact 5 RBAC 6 Tools and similar programs 7 See also 8 References 9 External links History Robert Coggeshall and Cliff Spencer wrote the original subsystem around 1980 at the Department of Computer Science at SUNY / Buffalo. As of 2018 the current version is under active development, maintained by OpenBSD developer Todd C. Miller and distributed under a ISC - style license. In November 2009 Thomas Claburn, in response to concerns that Microsoft had patented sudo, characterized such suspicions as overblown. The claims were narrowly framed to a particular GUI, rather than to the sudo concept. Design Unlike the command su, users supply their personal password to sudo if necessary. After authentication, and if the configuration file permits the user access, the system invokes the requested command. By default the user 's password can be retained through a grace period ( 15 minutes per pseudo terminal ), allowing the user to execute several successive commands as the requested user without having to provide a password again. sudo may be configured to log each command run. When a user attempts to invoke sudo without being listed in the configuration file, an exception indication is presented to the user indicating that the attempt has been recorded. The root user will be alerted via mail and an entry is recorded in the system log. Configuration The file / etc / sudoers contains a list of users or user groups with permission to execute a subset of commands while having the privileges of the root user or another specified user. The program may be configured to require a password. Impact In some system distributions, sudo has largely supplanted the default use of a distinct superuser login for administrative tasks, most notably in some Linux distributions as well as Apple 's Mac OS X. RBAC Main article : Role - based access control In association with SELinux, sudo can be used to transition between roles in role - based access control ( RBAC ). Tools and similar programs visudo is a command - line utility that allows editing the configuration file in a fail - safe manner. It prevents multiple simultaneous edits with locks and performs sanity and syntax checks. The program runas provides similar functionality in Microsoft Windows, but it can not pass current directories, environment variables or long command lines to the child. And while it supports running the child as another user, it does not support simple elevation. A true su and sudo for Windows that can pass all of that state information and start the child either elevated or as another user ( or both ) is included with Hamilton C shell. Graphical user interfaces exist for sudo, notably kdesudo, and gksudo. Other user interfaces are not directly built on sudo, but provide similar temporary privilege elevation for administrative purposes, such as User Account Control in Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X Authorization Services. doas has been written in order to replace sudo in the OpenBSD base system, with the latter still being made available as a port. See also Free software portal chroot Comparison of privilege authorization features References Jump up ^ `` Sudo Main Page ''. News section. Retrieved 30 April 2018. Jump up ^ Todd C. Miller ( 2011 - 06 - 17 ). `` Sudo License ''. Sudo.ws. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 17. ^ Jump up to : Miller, Todd C. `` Troubleshooting tips and FAQ for Sudo ''. Retrieved 2009 - 11 - 20. Jump up ^ `` How do YOU pronounce `` sudo '' ? ``. Ars Technica. Jump up ^ Cohen, Noam ( May 26, 2008 ). `` This Is Funny Only if You Know Unix ''. The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2012. Jump up ^ https://pthree.org/2009/12/31/the-meaning-of-su/ Jump up ^ `` Sudo - ArchWiki '' ( MediaWiki ). wiki.archlinux.org. Jump up ^ Haeder, A. ; Schneiter, S.A.. ; Pessanha, B.G. ; Stanger, J. LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell. O'Reilly Media, 2010. p. 409. ISBN 978 - 0596804879. ^ Jump up to : Miller, Todd C. `` A Brief History of Sudo ''. Retrieved 2007 - 03 - 05. Jump up ^ Lilly, Paul. `` Microsoft has Patented `` sudo. '' Yes, the Command ``. Retrieved 2009 - 11 - 13. Jump up ^ Thomas, Claburn ( 2009 - 11 - 16 ). `` Does New Microsoft Patent Infringe On Unix Program Sudo ? Some in the open source community suspicious of Microsoft 's intent ''. Dark Reading. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 29. A patent granted to Microsoft ( NSDQ : MSFT ) has stirred up worry that world 's largest software company wants to claim Unix 's `` sudo '' as its own. (... ) In short, suspicions about this patent are overblown. Jump up ^ Eaton, Nick ( November 12, 2009 ). `` Did Microsoft just sneakily patent an open - source tool ? ''. seattlepi.com. Retrieved April 24, 2011. Jump up ^ https://www.sudo.ws/man/1.8.14/sudoers.man.html Jump up ^ `` Manpage for sudo ''. Retrieved 2007 - 11 - 04. Jump up ^ `` RootSudo ''. Community Ubuntu Documentation. Help.ubuntu.com. 2011 - 11 - 08. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 17. Jump up ^ `` Top Ten Mac OS X Tips for Unix Geeks ''. MacDevCenter.com. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 17. Jump up ^ `` SELinux Lockdown Part Five : SELinux RBAC ''. Retrieved 2012 - 11 - 17. Jump up ^ `` su ''. Hamilton Laboratories. Retrieved August 17, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Predefined aliases : sudo ''. Hamilton Laboratories. Retrieved August 17, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Introduction to Authorization Services Programming Guide ''. Developer.apple.com. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 17. Jump up ^ `` doas ''. External links Official website Unix command - line interface programs and shell builtins File system cat chmod chown chgrp cksum cmp cp dd du df file fuser ln ls mkdir mv pax pwd rm rmdir split tee touch type umask Processes at bg crontab fg kill nice ps time User environment env exit logname mesg talk tput uname who write Text processing awk basename comm csplit cut diff dirname ed ex fold head iconv join m4 more nl paste printf sed sort strings tail tr uniq vi wc xargs Shell builtins alias cd echo test unset wait Searching find grep Documentation man Software development ar ctags lex make nm strip yacc Miscellaneous bc cal expr lp od sleep true and false Categories Standard Unix programs Unix SUS2008 utilities List Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sudo&oldid=840827760 '' Categories : Computer security software System administration Unix user management and support - related utilities Software using the ISC license Hidden categories : Pages using Infobox software with unknown parameters Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2018 All articles containing potentially dated statements Talk Contents About Wikipedia Boarisch Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Magyar മലയാളം Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenščina Svenska Українська 中文 18 more Edit links This page was last edited on 12 May 2018, at 12 : 31. 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Question: what is the meaning of sudo in linux
Answer: computer operating systems