What's the problem with sudo apt-get update command ?

[Telemachus]

... this is not how Ubuntu configures sudo,...

It isn't?

Technically, he's right. See my post above for exactly how they set up sudo.

[gnudude]

how about....this is not how ubuntu configures sudo now

[jalu]

For anyone who is interested, this is not how Ubuntu configures sudo, sudo was around long before Ubuntu, and most of the scare tactics on this page are as bad as the scare tactics Ubuntu uses to promote their attitude toward sudo.

the scare tactics on this board include telling how the not-recommended is getting done.
I have asked on ubuntu-forum how to get rid of sudo and didnt get no answer at all.

I for one give nothing on security issues and have allready said so. If cola wants to set it up that way, its his choice.
If he had asked straight ahead how to set up sudo i would have told it straight ahead. I thought he wanted to update and not he wanted to set up sudo
(that is: i misunderstood the question).

please, smallchange, explain the new-way they do it now, as i dont get it (else i have to install it and check for myself or simply believe Telemachus, which seems reasonable)

PS: I quit kuhbuntu short after the long-term erected-elephant 8.10 was out (due to kde4). So my info on the buntu way of doing sudo-things is a bit newer than Telemachus.

[smallchange]

Believe Telemachus.

[Telemachus]

Believe Telemachus.

Really? I usually recommend against it, but that's just me.

[edbarx]

My golden rule: do it the Debian way. After all, typing su and the root password is not too laborious for my fingers.

[gnudude]

okay, ubuntu does it a bit differently... (although the first user you setup is still a part of the admin group by default)

wide open sudo seems to defeat the purpose of sudo.....but feel free to use it that way....

[Coco]

I hope your girlfriend doesn't sit at your machine and play around with commands like

sudo rm -rf /bin

then you will wish you hadn't configured sudo like that.

Unless his girlfriend knows his username password its not really a problem.

PS- I've gone the ubuntu route, installed sudo and disabled the root login as well. Its what I'm familiar with.

Edited - Spelling.

[Telemachus]

PS- I've gone the ubuntu root, installed sudo and disabled the root login as well. Its what I'm familiar with.

I think you mean the Debian route (about root - perhaps).

[Coco]

PS- I've gone the ubuntu root, installed sudo and disabled the root login as well. Its what I'm familiar with.

I think you mean the Debian route (about root - perhaps).

I'm pretty sure Debian doesn't disable root login by default (you can login as root by typing su). Ubuntu does so you can't login as root.

[gnudude]

I went the ubuntu route. I tied the gas pedal to the floor of my car and I left the keys in it...

[jalu]

I'm pretty sure Debian doesn't disable root login by default (you can login as root by typing su). Ubuntu does so you can't login as root.

you can choose during installation (i`m not pretty sure. im sure. at least for the media i got laying around)

If by default you mean you gotta hit a tab once aint default no more, well: on that im not sure.

[Coco]

I went the ubuntu route. I tied the gas pedal to the floor of my car and I left the keys in it...

Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit.

[julian67]

Ubuntu's sudo doesn't let all and any users run commands with root privileges, it only allows the first created user to do this (or any user the first user adds to the admin group).

The reason jalu got no response to asking about enabling root account at ubuntuforums is that anyone who offered to help would get infracted, maybe even banned for doing so. In fact maybe people did offer help but were infracted/banned and the posts moved to the jail. ubuntuforums...It's such a nice place...the freedom OS with just a hint of authoritarian mania...or is it the other way around? What is odder still about their forum policy is that Ubuntu server edition's installer offers the choice to create regular and user accounts, as per Debian and most other UNIX-like OS, or you can do it the Ubuntu way and have root disabled and the first user gets sudo admin privileges. However, the admins/mods/toy-gods at ubuntuforums have decreed that nobody is allowed to advise on the merits, or otherwise, of either approach, nor on how to change from one method to the other. This is apparently something like heresy or apostacy.

Anyway to address the OP, the reason sudo isn't working as in Ubuntu is because Debian, in common with almost every GNU/Linux distro and BSDs and Solaris etc, doesn't use sudo that way. You create two accounts on install, one is the root account and one is the user account. You use the user account and when you need to do some admin with root privilege you switch to root, usually by using the command su, or by using su -c '<some_command>'

Ubuntu had quite a lot of difficulties and put a lot of work into getting stuff working with sudo where the creator of the script/application had expected it to be used by root. Using Ubuntu style sudo in Debian you may run into odd failures because those same changes haven't been made. This is especially true of applications which are essentially scripts, and also 3rd party applications, especially proprietary ones which you may not be able to modify. My bet is that eventually using sudo Ubuntu style will just prove too annoying.

[Coco]

Ubuntu had quite a lot of difficulties and put a lot of work into getting stuff working with sudo where the creator of the script/application had expected it to be used by root. Using Ubuntu style sudo in Debian you may run into odd failures because those same changes haven't been made. This is especially true of applications which are essentially scripts, and also 3rd party applications, especially proprietary ones which you may not be able to modify. My bet is that eventually using sudo Ubuntu style will just prove too annoying.

I disabled the root login using "passwd -l root" and rely solely on sudo. So do you recommend I re-enable root login? I haven't encountered any problems so far and I'm very comfortable and familiar with this setup.