Tag: sudo

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 (normally the superuser, or root). Its name is a concatenation of the su command (which grants the user a shell of another user, normally the superuser) and “do”, or take action.
Unlike the su command, users typically supply their own password to sudo rather than the root password. After authentication, and if the /etc/sudoers configuration file permits the user access, then the system will invoke the requested command.
The program was originally written by Bob Coggeshall and Cliff Spencer “around 1980” at the Department of Computer Science at SUNY/Buffalo. The current version is under active development and is maintained by OpenBSD developer Todd C. Miller and distributed under a BSD-style license.
In November 2009 Thomas Claburn, in response to fears that Microsoft had patented the sudo command, found the suspicions to be…