What is sudo?
sudo stands for "su do", and means "do something as the supervisor". `sudo` is an enhanced alternative to the Unix `su` command.
The `su` command allows any user to obtain superuser privileges, if they know the root password:
bash-2.05a$ su - Password: #
The Impact of sudo on Unix System Security
`sudo` improves on `su` in several ways:
- `sudo` allows you to give privileged access to only some commands, instead of all commands.
- `sudo` allows you to log all commands (and their arguments) executed as the privileged user.
- `sudo` does not require the administrator to share the root password.
- `sudo` allows you to limit the users who can use it by editing the sudoers file.
- `sudo` times out after 5 minutes (by default).
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