Changes in sudo (upstream)

kapqa · Yesterday 10:01:33

This was today in the "news"

sudo (1.9.17p2-7) unstable; urgency=medium
Starting with sudo 1.9.17p2-6, the default /etc/sudoers was aligned with
the example file that upstream ships. This was done to reduce the
differences between Debian and other distributions.
This has removed /usr/local/sbin and /usr/local/bin from the
"Defaults secure_path" setting. This may break some local scripts, but
also increases security, since on some systems, /usr/local might be
writable for non-root users and thus executing programs from there might
introduce privilege escalation.
If you want to use executables from /usr/local with sudo without giving
the explicit path, consider changing the setting in an /etc/sudoers.d
snippet.
-- Marc Haber <mh+debian-packages@zugschlus.de> Sat, 04 Jul 2026 12:57:42 +0200

have not fully understood the implicatoins of change, but suppose it is a benevolent, sensible change.

tux_99 · Yesterday 21:54:11

sudo is one of the first packages that I uninstall on laptops/desktops after a fresh installation.

It is not even meant for the purpose it's being used by most Linux distros, sudo is meant to give limited access to specific commands as root or other restricted user to specific users on a multi-user system, not as a "run everything you want as root" tool on a single user desktop/laptop system.

We have to thank Ubuntu for introducing this misuse of sudo on Linux.

Last edited by tux_99 (Yesterday 21:55:27)

Altoid · Yesterday 23:04:45

Hello:

tux_99 wrote:

... as a "run everything you want as root" tool on a single user desktop ...

Not the way I use it, mostly thanks to my learning about it when on PCLinuxOS.
One of the main admins was quite adamant about it.
See: https://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/201205/page11.html

But yes, I agree that a great many people use it in the wrong way.
Mainly thanks to the Ubuntu distribution.

I am, of course, also interested in the implications of the announced change.

Best,

A.

fsmithred · Today 00:00:09

What is says is that if you want to use sudo to run a command in /usr/local/(s)bin, you must now give the full path to the command.

What I see is that I do not have to give the full path to run the command with sudo, but maybe that's because I have the full path to the command already in my /etc/sudoers.d/usercommands. So for me, there's no change. Tested this in freia with the version of sudo mentioned above.

greenjeans · Today 01:18:03

Wait, some of you are still using sudo?

fsmithred · Today 01:30:33

Yeah, I have sudo NOPASSWD set for a few commands for one user. That's all.

Mercury · Today 02:11:30

What is the "proper" way to run admin tasks? For example, what "should" I be using to edit system-wide conf files?

fsmithred · Today 09:24:31

It's linux. There are 10 ways to do anything. Pick one.

If you have a root account, you can su to root to do admin tasks. If you don't have a root account, you need to use sudo to do admin tasks, and in that case, you're probably a member of the sudo group and can do anything with it.

The original intent of sudo was to allow fine-grained permissions for certain users or groups to do a few specific admin tasks rather than give them total root access.

What you should not do is log into a desktop session as root.

Altoid · Today 10:41:54

Hello:

fsmithred wrote:

... to run a command in /usr/local/(s)bin, you must now give the full path ...

Right, thanks for that.

fsmithred wrote:

... have the full path to the command already in my /etc/sudoers.d/ ...

fsmithred wrote:

... sudo NOPASSWD set for a few commands.

That is how I have it set up.

Best,

A.

greenjeans · Today 16:34:18

I don't know about a proper way, but on a single-user system i've always just used su. I have right-click extensions to edit a file as root, or to open a directory as root if I need to move some files around.

As far as the changes to sudo, what systems would make /usr/local/ writeable for a non-root user? That seems silly.

@Altoid that link was a blast from the past, I remember when Old Polack wrote it, PCLOS was really popular at the time and there had been a steady influx of new users posting "where's muh sudo?". OP was a brilliant guy, don't know if he's still around but I learned a lot from him.

Last edited by greenjeans (Today 16:47:38)

Altoid · Today 17:43:57

Hello:

greenjeans wrote:

... a blast from the past ...
... when Old Polack wrote it, PCLOS was really popular at the time ...

Quite so ...

greenjeans wrote:

... a brilliant guy, don't know if he's still around ...

Yes, I agree.

It seems that there was a fire/accident that took down the servers and a new forum had to be set up.
Apparently some stuff was lost and I cannot log-in or recover my PW.
Will try again when I have time.

Don't understand ...
No reliable off-site back-ups? 8^°

In any case, Texstar [main dev] posted this earlier this year.
Seems he does not have contact information for one of his forum's senior admin. (?)
Go figure ...

Best,

A.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 Yesterday 10:01:33

Changes in sudo (upstream)

#2 Yesterday 21:54:11

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#3 Yesterday 23:04:45

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#4 Today 00:00:09

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#5 Today 01:18:03

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#6 Today 01:30:33

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#7 Today 02:11:30

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#8 Today 09:24:31

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#9 Today 10:41:54

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#10 Today 16:34:18

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

#11 Today 17:43:57

Re: Changes in sudo (upstream)

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