Arch Linux

Flapper

Member

Registered: 2019-02-10

Posts: 46

[SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Having got the message "/etc/sudoers installed as /etc/sudoers.pacnew" when updating sudo, I (without thinking) renamed /etc/sudoers, and then tried to rename /etc/sudoers.pacnew, but I now get the error:

sudo: unable to stat /etc/sudoers: No such file or directory
sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting
sudo: error initializing audit plugin sudoers_audit

Can I get round this by using su, or will this mess up ownership?

Last edited by Flapper (2020-07-25 23:10:04)

GaKu999

Member

From: US/Eastern

Registered: 2020-06-21

Posts: 696

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

If you can login as root, do so, restore your old sudoers file and run visudo.

The update is a change on the last line, the includes, that it now uses @ instead of #

If you can’t because the root user has no password you are locked out...
Do you have a pendrive with archiso in hand?

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GeorgeJP

Member

From: Czech Republic

Registered: 2020-01-28

Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Log in as root. Reinstall sudo.

WorMzy

Administrator

From: Scotland

Registered: 2010-06-16

Posts: 13,653

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Can I get round this by using su

Of course. Why would it mess up ownership? In the future, use "pacdiff" (or equivalent) rather than manually renaming files.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ve#pacdiff

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Flapper

Member

Registered: 2019-02-10

Posts: 46

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Renamed it back to sudoers by using su, then edited with visudo. Marking as solved.

eschwartz

Fellow

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 4,097

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Log in as root. Reinstall sudo.

I'm mind-boggled that you think reinstalling sudo will solve the problem of incorrect configuration files that no longer have custom settings.

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GeorgeJP

Member

From: Czech Republic

Registered: 2020-01-28

Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Log in as root. Reinstall sudo.

I'm mind-boggled that you think reinstalling sudo will solve the problem of incorrect configuration files that no longer have custom settings.

Maybe I get it wrong.
Reinstalling sudo will solve missing file /etc/sudoers.
Custom settings should be saved in files in /etc/sudoers.d folder.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,764

Re: [SOLVED] Lost my sudoers file

Unfortunately we don't live in a shouldland and the file conflict suggests that /etc/sudoers saw custom changes.

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