su
you can run the su command and enter the root password to start a root shell. This practice works, but it has certain disadvantages:
- You have no record of system-altering commands.
- You have no record of the users who performed system-altering commands.
- You don’t have access to your normal shell environment.
- You have to enter the root password.
sudo
Most larger distributions use a package called sudo to allow administrators to run commands as root when they are logged in as themselves
$ sudo apt-get update
/etc/sudoers
Of course, the system doesn’t let just any user run commands as the superuser; you must configure the privileged users in your /etc/sudoers file.
For example, this file gives user1 and user2 the power to run any command as root without having to enter a password:
User_Alias ADMINS = user1, user2
ADMINS ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
Reference: How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know by Brian Ward
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