Why memorize a different command? I assume sudoedit just looks up the system’s EDITOR environment variable and uses that. Is there any other benefit?
I don’t use it, but, sudoedit is a little more complicated than that.
details
from man sudo:
When invoked as sudoedit, the -e option (described below), is implied.
-e, --edit
Edit one or more files instead of running a command. In lieu
of a path name, the string"sudoedit"is used when consulting
the security policy. If the user is authorized by the policy,
the following steps are taken:
1. Temporary copies are made of the files to be edited with
the owner setto the invoking user.
2. The editor specified by the policy is run to edit the tem‐
porary files. The sudoers policy uses the SUDO_EDITOR,
VISUAL and EDITOR environment variables (in that order).
If none of SUDO_EDITOR, VISUAL or EDITOR are set, the
first program listed in the editor sudoers(5) optionis
used.
3. If they have been modified, the temporary files are copied
back to their original location and the temporary versions
are removed.
To help prevent the editing of unauthorized files, the follow‐
ing restrictions are enforced unless explicitly allowed by the
security policy:
• Symbolic links may not be edited (version 1.8.15and
higher).
• Symbolic links along the path to be edited are not followed
when the parent directory is writable by the invoking user
unless that user is root (version 1.8.16and higher).
• Files located in a directory that is writable by the invok‐
ing user may not be edited unless that user is root (ver‐
sion 1.8.16and higher).
Users are never allowed to edit device special files.
If the specified file does not exist, it will be created. Un‐
like most commands run by sudo, the editor is run with the in‐
voking user's environment unmodified. If the temporary file
becomes empty after editing, the user will be prompted before
it is installed. If, for some reason, sudo is unable to update
a file with its edited version, the user will receive a warning
and the edited copy will remain in a temporary file.
tldr: it makes a copy of the file-to-be-edited in a temp directory, owned by you, and then runs your $EDITOR as your normal user (so, with your normal editor config)
note that sudo also includes a similar command which is specifically for editing /etc/sudoers, called visudo 🤪
I know this is a meme community, but a modicum of effort IS warranted IMO. https://superuser.com/questions/785187/sudoedit-why-use-it-over-sudo-vi is the top result of a search for “why use sudoedit” and a pretty good answer. “man sudoedit” also explains it pretty well, as shown by another commenter.
Set SUDO_EDITOR in your profile to the editor of your choice, benefit is it retains your user profile for that editor, it’s also less to type. For stuff like editing sudoers you’re supposed to use visudo to edit that. Others can probably give better/more thorough reasons to consider it.
Correct but it uses the SUDO_EDITOR environment variable. The benefit is more security while editing system files, it creates a temporary file and when you finish it writes changes to the original. There is more to it but that is all I know, it prevents some exploits.
You mean
sudoeditright? Right?edit: While there’s a little bit of attention on this I also want to beg you to stop doing
sudo su -and start doingsudo -iyou know who you are <3Why memorize a different command? I assume
sudoeditjust looks up the system’s EDITOR environment variable and uses that. Is there any other benefit?I don’t use it, but,
sudoeditis a little more complicated than that.details
from
man sudo:When invoked as sudoedit, the -e option (described below), is implied.-e, --edit Edit one or more files instead of running a command. In lieu of a path name, the string "sudoedit" is used when consulting the security policy. If the user is authorized by the policy, the following steps are taken: 1. Temporary copies are made of the files to be edited with the owner set to the invoking user. 2. The editor specified by the policy is run to edit the tem‐ porary files. The sudoers policy uses the SUDO_EDITOR, VISUAL and EDITOR environment variables (in that order). If none of SUDO_EDITOR, VISUAL or EDITOR are set, the first program listed in the editor sudoers(5) option is used. 3. If they have been modified, the temporary files are copied back to their original location and the temporary versions are removed. To help prevent the editing of unauthorized files, the follow‐ ing restrictions are enforced unless explicitly allowed by the security policy: • Symbolic links may not be edited (version 1.8.15 and higher). • Symbolic links along the path to be edited are not followed when the parent directory is writable by the invoking user unless that user is root (version 1.8.16 and higher). • Files located in a directory that is writable by the invok‐ ing user may not be edited unless that user is root (ver‐ sion 1.8.16 and higher). Users are never allowed to edit device special files. If the specified file does not exist, it will be created. Un‐ like most commands run by sudo, the editor is run with the in‐ voking user's environment unmodified. If the temporary file becomes empty after editing, the user will be prompted before it is installed. If, for some reason, sudo is unable to update a file with its edited version, the user will receive a warning and the edited copy will remain in a temporary file.tldr: it makes a copy of the file-to-be-edited in a temp directory, owned by you, and then runs your
$EDITORas your normal user (so, with your normal editor config)note that sudo also includes a similar command which is specifically for editing
/etc/sudoers, calledvisudo🤪visudo is a life-saver since it adds some checks to prevent you from breaking your sudo configuration and locking you out of your system.
I know this is a meme community, but a modicum of effort IS warranted IMO. https://superuser.com/questions/785187/sudoedit-why-use-it-over-sudo-vi is the top result of a search for “why use sudoedit” and a pretty good answer. “man sudoedit” also explains it pretty well, as shown by another commenter.
Hey, even memes can lead to learning opportunities!
From the arch wiki
sudo -e {file}Set SUDO_EDITOR in your profile to the editor of your choice, benefit is it retains your user profile for that editor, it’s also less to type. For stuff like editing sudoers you’re supposed to use visudo to edit that. Others can probably give better/more thorough reasons to consider it.
Correct but it uses the SUDO_EDITOR environment variable. The benefit is more security while editing system files, it creates a temporary file and when you finish it writes changes to the original. There is more to it but that is all I know, it prevents some exploits.
I believe sudoedit disables being able to spawn commands from the editor. In vi, I think it was :!<command>