Adding a sudoer

Wise Wolf · 2008-11-29 03:32:19

I am still fairly new to Arch, I just installed it for the second time today. But when I configuring it after the initial install, I never added a sudoer to the file. So now whenever I try to install something, it asks to be root, but I'm not a sudoer. I have my GUI and everything setup, how can I access the original bash while configuring my system, and get to be root to correct my mistake?

Thanks:/

bilalaslam · 2008-11-29 03:54:24

Hello Wise Wolf,

Ok, so you cannot use sudo at the moment right? Since you do have a GUI setup you most likely have a login manager installed as well. Also i assume you know the root login and password? If you do then you can fix your problem very easily.

1. Login as root in your GUI or in a regular terminal when you boot up
2. As root type visudo ( i hope you know how to use vi, if not, please go look up a quick guide http://acs.ucsd.edu/info/vi_tutorial.shtml )
3. Use arrow keys to go down to the line that starts with ROOT
4. Press Y twice to "yank" the line
5. Press P once to paste the line
6. Press i once to enter insert mode
7. Delete the word root and replace it with desired user name
8. Press Esc once
9. type :wq
10. type reboot
11. Tell us if that worked.

Wise Wolf · 2008-11-29 04:06:34

Christ I feel stupid, I seriously forgot I can still access root from terminal. But I got it now!
Thanks

Last edited by Wise Wolf (2008-11-29 04:06:59)

bilalaslam · 2008-11-29 16:55:16

Happy to help when i can, i'm kind of new to arch myself, been using ubuntu for the past 2 years.

Renan Birck · 2008-11-29 19:10:35

I prefer to do this:

- Add this to your sudoers.

# Let users of the "sudoers" group run commands.
%sudoers    ALL=(ALL) ALL

- gpasswd -a YOUR_USER_NAME sudoers
- Logout and login.

This way, if you have multiple users, you can just add them to the sudoers group and they will be able to use sudo.

sharpie · 2008-11-30 14:07:21

Please mark as solved, if the problem is solved.

markjolesen · 2010-01-10 07:54:52

I did a fresh install of arch tonight --- bored and figured I would try it out on a dell inspirion 1100 laptop I bought about 9 years ago...

I realize this post is out of date, however, I think it is still a common problem because the minimal install does not even have sudo. So, if anyone comes across this, maybe it will help, otherwise, vaporize...

After the initial install, I had to manually add a user via useradd (the install only sets up root user and a password). For help on that, do a man useradd.

I am very used to having most of the account management automatically setup, so it was weird to see a /etc/passwd file with less than 9 lines after installation. When I saw this, I thought, wow that is great, I may just like Arch.

Typically, most distros already include sudo into the installation. Not here, you have to manually install sudo. However, Arch does have wheel setup. Personally, wheel and sudo are messy, and I don't fully understand it. However, if you don't care about sudo, and just want su, then simply add yourself to the wheel group:

as root

vi /etc/group

find the line

wheel:...

and suffix it with ":your_login_name". Now as your_login_name, you can su.

note: after a fresh install you do not have a /etc/sudoer file --- maybe it's for the best.

Following, install package sudo:

pacman -S sudo

Typically, with most distro's you can simply vi /etc/sudoers and uncomment wheel. Following, vi /etc/group and then add yourself to the end of wheel. This should be enough, however, as mentioned before Arch does not setup group sudo. So,

gpasswd -a your_login_name sudoers

It worked, but I have no idea why (there is no real sudo user or group) --- I guess it has been embedded into the kernel, and if it was, linas should be shot!

So, maybe Arch got it right afterwards, and setup wheel so a user can belong to wheel and can su, or Arch got it wrong by not having sudo?

Strange, but you first have to install sudo: pacman -S sudo

Allan · 2010-01-10 08:40:07

markjolesen wrote:

I realize this post is out of date,

Yes it is:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … Bumping.27
Closing.

and what is with that whitespace?

Arch Linux

#1 2008-11-29 03:32:19

Adding a sudoer

#2 2008-11-29 03:54:24

Re: Adding a sudoer

#3 2008-11-29 04:06:34

Re: Adding a sudoer

#4 2008-11-29 16:55:16

Re: Adding a sudoer

#5 2008-11-29 19:10:35

Re: Adding a sudoer

#6 2008-11-30 14:07:21

Re: Adding a sudoer

#7 2010-01-10 07:54:52

Re: Adding a sudoer

#8 2010-01-10 08:40:07

Re: Adding a sudoer

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