Why is sudo -s better than sudo su?
up vote
28
down vote
favorite
I’ve seen many comments here in Ask Ubuntu regarding preference in using sudo -s rather than sudo su.
For me, that two commands do exactly the same. But why is sudo -s supposed to be better?
command-line sudo su
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
add a comment |
up vote
28
down vote
favorite
I’ve seen many comments here in Ask Ubuntu regarding preference in using sudo -s rather than sudo su.
For me, that two commands do exactly the same. But why is sudo -s supposed to be better?
command-line sudo su
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
1
I thinksudo -iorsudo suis better thansudo -sfor reasons mentioned here: ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6188826&postcount=4 Also: this is a possible duplicate of superuser.com/questions/29/…
– arrange
Oct 4 '11 at 6:27
I think this question should be moved to unix.stackexchange.com
– igi
Dec 25 '11 at 8:48
add a comment |
up vote
28
down vote
favorite
up vote
28
down vote
favorite
I’ve seen many comments here in Ask Ubuntu regarding preference in using sudo -s rather than sudo su.
For me, that two commands do exactly the same. But why is sudo -s supposed to be better?
command-line sudo su
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
I’ve seen many comments here in Ask Ubuntu regarding preference in using sudo -s rather than sudo su.
For me, that two commands do exactly the same. But why is sudo -s supposed to be better?
command-line sudo su
command-line sudo su
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
edited Dec 8 at 23:52
Stefan Hamcke
3911522
3911522
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
asked Oct 4 '11 at 4:33
fitojb
1,83811330
1,83811330
1
I thinksudo -iorsudo suis better thansudo -sfor reasons mentioned here: ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6188826&postcount=4 Also: this is a possible duplicate of superuser.com/questions/29/…
– arrange
Oct 4 '11 at 6:27
I think this question should be moved to unix.stackexchange.com
– igi
Dec 25 '11 at 8:48
add a comment |
1
I thinksudo -iorsudo suis better thansudo -sfor reasons mentioned here: ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6188826&postcount=4 Also: this is a possible duplicate of superuser.com/questions/29/…
– arrange
Oct 4 '11 at 6:27
I think this question should be moved to unix.stackexchange.com
– igi
Dec 25 '11 at 8:48
1
1
I think
sudo -i or sudo su is better than sudo -s for reasons mentioned here: ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6188826&postcount=4 Also: this is a possible duplicate of superuser.com/questions/29/…– arrange
Oct 4 '11 at 6:27
I think
sudo -i or sudo su is better than sudo -s for reasons mentioned here: ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6188826&postcount=4 Also: this is a possible duplicate of superuser.com/questions/29/…– arrange
Oct 4 '11 at 6:27
I think this question should be moved to unix.stackexchange.com
– igi
Dec 25 '11 at 8:48
I think this question should be moved to unix.stackexchange.com
– igi
Dec 25 '11 at 8:48
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
I think sudo -s is not "better", it's just different.
sudo -s
keeps your $HOME directory, so when you start programs, they will use your (and not root's) config files etc. Disadvantage: they can also change the ownership of your files in the $HOME directory, typical example is the .Xauthority file, but I have never experienced a problem with that.
sudo su or sudo -i
programs will use the root's home directory and its config files. This might be more intuitive, but it also means that it will not use any configuration you may have set for yourself (aliases, bash history,...).
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
1
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
1
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
add a comment |
up vote
13
down vote
Because sudo -s will not change your environment variables, especially $HOME, which will stay HOME=/home/USER. If you use sudo su this will change to HOME=/root which can have negative side effects when programs you start try to access your user's home directory.
So basically it's like sudo vs gksudo when running graphical programs.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
Aside from the already mentioned differences with environment variables, I find sudo su silly and wasteful because you are asking sudo to run su as root, and ask it to run a shell as root. Why ask a program to ask a program to give you a root shell, when you can just have the first program give you that shell? Does that matter in any practical sense? No, I'm just pedantic.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
Well, not completely so: if you are usingsudo suto be root, yes, just gosudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user:sudo su - myuser.
– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
2
There is another difference:sudo -iwill change to/rootdirectory andsudo suwill stay in the directory you are.
– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
1
@hggdh,sudo -u myuser.
– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
I would disagree with other answers when considering the cases when you want to log in as a user who do not have a shell. That is a very common case with users assigned to services.
Using "sudo su" will start the shell specified by the user. However in the case of a user assigned to server process, the shell is /usr/bin/false and the logging will fail. Instead you should enter as:
sudo -sHu <server-user>
that will log you in and cd to its home path, even if the user does not have a shell assigned
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
add a comment |
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
I think sudo -s is not "better", it's just different.
sudo -s
keeps your $HOME directory, so when you start programs, they will use your (and not root's) config files etc. Disadvantage: they can also change the ownership of your files in the $HOME directory, typical example is the .Xauthority file, but I have never experienced a problem with that.
sudo su or sudo -i
programs will use the root's home directory and its config files. This might be more intuitive, but it also means that it will not use any configuration you may have set for yourself (aliases, bash history,...).
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
1
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
1
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
add a comment |
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
I think sudo -s is not "better", it's just different.
sudo -s
keeps your $HOME directory, so when you start programs, they will use your (and not root's) config files etc. Disadvantage: they can also change the ownership of your files in the $HOME directory, typical example is the .Xauthority file, but I have never experienced a problem with that.
sudo su or sudo -i
programs will use the root's home directory and its config files. This might be more intuitive, but it also means that it will not use any configuration you may have set for yourself (aliases, bash history,...).
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
1
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
1
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
add a comment |
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
I think sudo -s is not "better", it's just different.
sudo -s
keeps your $HOME directory, so when you start programs, they will use your (and not root's) config files etc. Disadvantage: they can also change the ownership of your files in the $HOME directory, typical example is the .Xauthority file, but I have never experienced a problem with that.
sudo su or sudo -i
programs will use the root's home directory and its config files. This might be more intuitive, but it also means that it will not use any configuration you may have set for yourself (aliases, bash history,...).
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
I think sudo -s is not "better", it's just different.
sudo -s
keeps your $HOME directory, so when you start programs, they will use your (and not root's) config files etc. Disadvantage: they can also change the ownership of your files in the $HOME directory, typical example is the .Xauthority file, but I have never experienced a problem with that.
sudo su or sudo -i
programs will use the root's home directory and its config files. This might be more intuitive, but it also means that it will not use any configuration you may have set for yourself (aliases, bash history,...).
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
answered Oct 4 '11 at 9:33
arrange
11.5k33127
11.5k33127
1
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
1
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
add a comment |
1
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
1
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
1
1
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
Okay, I now understand the difference. Thank you!
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:34
1
1
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
"sudo su" is not equivalent to "sudo -i". "sudo -i" is equivalent to "sudo su -" but "sudo su -" keeps the current working directory while "sudo -i" moves you into root's home
– Gregory Pakosz
Feb 22 '12 at 21:50
add a comment |
up vote
13
down vote
Because sudo -s will not change your environment variables, especially $HOME, which will stay HOME=/home/USER. If you use sudo su this will change to HOME=/root which can have negative side effects when programs you start try to access your user's home directory.
So basically it's like sudo vs gksudo when running graphical programs.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
add a comment |
up vote
13
down vote
Because sudo -s will not change your environment variables, especially $HOME, which will stay HOME=/home/USER. If you use sudo su this will change to HOME=/root which can have negative side effects when programs you start try to access your user's home directory.
So basically it's like sudo vs gksudo when running graphical programs.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
add a comment |
up vote
13
down vote
up vote
13
down vote
Because sudo -s will not change your environment variables, especially $HOME, which will stay HOME=/home/USER. If you use sudo su this will change to HOME=/root which can have negative side effects when programs you start try to access your user's home directory.
So basically it's like sudo vs gksudo when running graphical programs.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
Because sudo -s will not change your environment variables, especially $HOME, which will stay HOME=/home/USER. If you use sudo su this will change to HOME=/root which can have negative side effects when programs you start try to access your user's home directory.
So basically it's like sudo vs gksudo when running graphical programs.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
answered Oct 4 '11 at 8:12
htorque
46.6k32171211
46.6k32171211
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
Aside from the already mentioned differences with environment variables, I find sudo su silly and wasteful because you are asking sudo to run su as root, and ask it to run a shell as root. Why ask a program to ask a program to give you a root shell, when you can just have the first program give you that shell? Does that matter in any practical sense? No, I'm just pedantic.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
Well, not completely so: if you are usingsudo suto be root, yes, just gosudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user:sudo su - myuser.
– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
2
There is another difference:sudo -iwill change to/rootdirectory andsudo suwill stay in the directory you are.
– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
1
@hggdh,sudo -u myuser.
– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
Aside from the already mentioned differences with environment variables, I find sudo su silly and wasteful because you are asking sudo to run su as root, and ask it to run a shell as root. Why ask a program to ask a program to give you a root shell, when you can just have the first program give you that shell? Does that matter in any practical sense? No, I'm just pedantic.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
Well, not completely so: if you are usingsudo suto be root, yes, just gosudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user:sudo su - myuser.
– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
2
There is another difference:sudo -iwill change to/rootdirectory andsudo suwill stay in the directory you are.
– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
1
@hggdh,sudo -u myuser.
– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
add a comment |
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
Aside from the already mentioned differences with environment variables, I find sudo su silly and wasteful because you are asking sudo to run su as root, and ask it to run a shell as root. Why ask a program to ask a program to give you a root shell, when you can just have the first program give you that shell? Does that matter in any practical sense? No, I'm just pedantic.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
Aside from the already mentioned differences with environment variables, I find sudo su silly and wasteful because you are asking sudo to run su as root, and ask it to run a shell as root. Why ask a program to ask a program to give you a root shell, when you can just have the first program give you that shell? Does that matter in any practical sense? No, I'm just pedantic.
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
answered Oct 4 '11 at 18:26
psusi
30.9k14986
30.9k14986
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
Well, not completely so: if you are usingsudo suto be root, yes, just gosudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user:sudo su - myuser.
– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
2
There is another difference:sudo -iwill change to/rootdirectory andsudo suwill stay in the directory you are.
– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
1
@hggdh,sudo -u myuser.
– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
add a comment |
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
Well, not completely so: if you are usingsudo suto be root, yes, just gosudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user:sudo su - myuser.
– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
2
There is another difference:sudo -iwill change to/rootdirectory andsudo suwill stay in the directory you are.
– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
1
@hggdh,sudo -u myuser.
– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
You’re right, it’s somewhat redundant.
– fitojb
Oct 4 '11 at 18:31
Well, not completely so: if you are using
sudo su to be root, yes, just go sudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user: sudo su - myuser.– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
Well, not completely so: if you are using
sudo su to be root, yes, just go sudo -i, for example. But it does help when you want to become a different user: sudo su - myuser.– hggdh
Oct 4 '11 at 22:31
2
2
There is another difference:
sudo -i will change to /root directory and sudo su will stay in the directory you are.– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
There is another difference:
sudo -i will change to /root directory and sudo su will stay in the directory you are.– laurent
Oct 5 '11 at 0:05
1
1
@hggdh,
sudo -u myuser.– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
@hggdh,
sudo -u myuser.– psusi
Oct 5 '11 at 13:38
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
I would disagree with other answers when considering the cases when you want to log in as a user who do not have a shell. That is a very common case with users assigned to services.
Using "sudo su" will start the shell specified by the user. However in the case of a user assigned to server process, the shell is /usr/bin/false and the logging will fail. Instead you should enter as:
sudo -sHu <server-user>
that will log you in and cd to its home path, even if the user does not have a shell assigned
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
I would disagree with other answers when considering the cases when you want to log in as a user who do not have a shell. That is a very common case with users assigned to services.
Using "sudo su" will start the shell specified by the user. However in the case of a user assigned to server process, the shell is /usr/bin/false and the logging will fail. Instead you should enter as:
sudo -sHu <server-user>
that will log you in and cd to its home path, even if the user does not have a shell assigned
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
I would disagree with other answers when considering the cases when you want to log in as a user who do not have a shell. That is a very common case with users assigned to services.
Using "sudo su" will start the shell specified by the user. However in the case of a user assigned to server process, the shell is /usr/bin/false and the logging will fail. Instead you should enter as:
sudo -sHu <server-user>
that will log you in and cd to its home path, even if the user does not have a shell assigned
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
I would disagree with other answers when considering the cases when you want to log in as a user who do not have a shell. That is a very common case with users assigned to services.
Using "sudo su" will start the shell specified by the user. However in the case of a user assigned to server process, the shell is /usr/bin/false and the logging will fail. Instead you should enter as:
sudo -sHu <server-user>
that will log you in and cd to its home path, even if the user does not have a shell assigned
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
edited Nov 28 '12 at 14:25
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
answered Nov 9 '12 at 12:48
SystematicFrank
1313
1313
add a comment |
add a comment |
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1
I think
sudo -iorsudo suis better thansudo -sfor reasons mentioned here: ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6188826&postcount=4 Also: this is a possible duplicate of superuser.com/questions/29/…– arrange
Oct 4 '11 at 6:27
I think this question should be moved to unix.stackexchange.com
– igi
Dec 25 '11 at 8:48