Adding a sudoer to use sudo on Debian

Sudo allows a system administrator to delegate authority to give certain users (or groups of users) the ability to run some (or all) commands as root or another user while providing an audit trail of the commands and their arguments.

1. Create a new user (optional)

adduser user1


2. Make sure sudo is install (installed by default on lenny)

apt-get install sudo


3. Add the new user to the sudo-ers list (visudo)

user1 ALL=(ALL) ALL


This will allow user1 to run all commands that require root privileges. You can also limit the access, Click here to view the syntax

4. Save the file by pressing Ctrl-X if you are using Nano/pico or :w if using vi

You can now login as the standard user (user1) and execute commands that require root privileges using sudo.