messages.
A) Make sure you have an entry in your syslog.conf file to save
the sudo messages (see the sample.syslog.conf file). The default
- log facility is local2 (changeable via configure). Don't forget
- to send a SIGHUP to your syslogd so that it re-reads its conf file.
- Also, remember that syslogd does *not* create log files, you need to
- create the file before syslogd will log to it (ie: touch /var/log/sudo).
- Note: the facility ("local2.debug") must be separated from the
- destination ("/var/adm/sudo.log" or "@loghost") by
+ log facility is authpriv (changeable via configure or in sudoers).
+ Don't forget to send a SIGHUP to your syslogd so that it re-reads
+ its conf file. Also, remember that syslogd does *not* create
+ log files, you need to create the file before syslogd will log
+ to it (ie: touch /var/log/sudo).
+ Note: the facility (e.g. "auth.debug") must be separated from the
+ destination (e.g. "/var/log/auth" or "@loghost") by
tabs, *not* spaces. This is a common error.
Q) When sudo asks me for my password it never accepts what I enter even
Q) When I try to use "cd" with sudo the command completes without
errors but nothing happens.
-A) Some SVR4-derived OS's include a /usr/bin/cd command for reasons
- unfathomable. A "cd" command is totally useless since a child process
- cannot affect the current working directory of the parent (your shell).
+A) Even though "cd" is a shell built-in command, some operating systems
+ include a /usr/bin/cd command for some reason. A standalone
+ "cd" command is totally useless since a child process (cd) cannot
+ affect the current working directory of the parent (your shell).
+ Thus, "sudo cd /foo" will start a child process, change the
+ directory and immediately exit without doing anything useful.
Q) When I run sudo it says I am not allowed to run the command as root
but I don't want to run it as root, I want to run it as another user.
Defaults:bob runas_default=oracle
would achieve the desired result ofr the preceding sudoers fragment.
+Q) When I try to run sudo via ssh, I get the error:
+ sudo: no tty present and no askpass program specified
+A) ssh does not allocate a tty by default when running a remote command.
+ Without a tty, sudo cannot disable echo when prompting for a password.
+ You can use ssh's "-t" option to force it to allocate a tty.
+ Alternately, if you do not mind your password being echoed to the
+ screen, you can use the "visiblepw" sudoers option to allow this.
+
Q) How do you pronounce `sudo'?
A) The official pronunciation is soo-doo (for su "do"). However, an
alternate pronunciation, a homophone of "pseudo", is also common.