I have a cadre of Linux developers in my shop, and I would routinely bust on them in retaliation for casting their noses decidedly skyward whenever anybody mentions that big evil company in Redmond. I used to call them all Tofu-eatin’, sandal-wearin’, pot-smokin’, mantra-chantin’, crystal-wavin’, Kumbaya-singin’, tambourine-bangin’, stickin’-it-to-the-Man beatnik Linux Hippies.
That is, until, I had to become one of them.
We’re installing a new phone system here that uses an open-source phone switch called Asterisk. In preparation, I have to install a box with CentOS on it (and before I get a bunch of uppity comments of how CentOS isn’t the very bestestestest Linux distribution to do the job, save it–I was asked to use CentOS by my boss).
I know my way around IRIX, HP-UX and AIX pretty well, but Linux? In my personal opinion, it is the very embodiment of the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup,” like most open-source development ventures are.
Even worse is that I now have to go with my hat in my hands and beg for help from these very same damn Linux Hippies I’ve been busting on for years.
It would seems I’ve been hoisted by my own petard.
Rather than search the Internet for the answers to some of my newbie questions–most Linux snobs hate newbie questions anyway and tell most newbies to RTFMP and go pound sand (wonderful “open” community, eh?)–I thought I’d try to make amends for my past sins, extend an olive branch, and ask the help of my damn Linux hipp– er, I mean, Linux developers.
So I e-mailed one and asked how I grant my regular user account SUDO privileges. I got back this:
Ok.
Let goes to the magical recipe book. Here is what you will need:
1. 2 pork ears.
2. 1 bat wing.
3. The guts of a goat, sun-dried.
4. A very big pot.
5. Some exotic herbs that grow only in the Oceania islands.…
visudo is the magic word you want. It’s a utility built on top of vi to edit the /etc/sudoers file. That’s where you define the sudo privileges for an account.
Now, if you ate more tofu, you’d certainly inherit all this knowledge by osmosis by sticking your had in the tofu box. All knowledge is contained in the conservative juice.
Ha ha. Damn Linux Hippies.
(I guess I had it coming)
