visudo
VISUDO(8) MAINTENANCE COMMANDS VISUDO(8)
NAME
visudo - edit the sudoers file
SYNOPSIS
visudo [ -c ] [ -f sudoers ] [ -q ] [ -s ] [ -V ]
DESCRIPTION
visudo edits the sudoers file in a safe fashion, analogous to vipw(8).
visudo locks the sudoers file against multiple simultaneous edits,
provides basic sanity checks, and checks for parse errors. If the
sudoers file is currently being edited you will receive a message to
try again later.
There is a hard-coded list of editors that visudo will use set at com-
pile-time that may be overridden via the editor sudoers Default vari-
able. This list defaults to the path to vi(1) on your system, as
determined by the configure script. Normally, visudo does not honor
the EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables unless they contain an edi-
tor in the aforementioned editors list. However, if visudo is config-
ured with the --with-enveditor flag or the enveditor Default variable
is set in sudoers, visudo will use any the editor defines by EDITOR or
VISUAL. Note that this can be a security hole since it allows the
user to execute any program they wish simply by setting EDITOR or
VISUAL.
visudo parses the sudoers file after the edit and will not save the
changes if there is a syntax error. Upon finding an error, visudo
will print a message stating the line number(s) where the error
occurred and the user will receive the "What now?" prompt. At this
point the user may enter "e" to re-edit the sudoers file, "x" to exit
without saving the changes, or "Q" to quit and save changes. The "Q"
option should be used with extreme care because if visudo believes
there to be a parse error, so will sudo and no one will be able to
sudo again until the error is fixed. If "e" is typed to edit the
sudoers file after a parse error has been detected, the cursor will be
placed on the line where the error occurred (if the editor supports
this feature).
OPTIONS
visudo accepts the following command line options:
-c Enable check-only mode. The existing sudoers file will be checked
for syntax and a message will be printed to the standard output
detailing the status of sudoers. If the syntax check completes
successfully, visudo will exit with a value of 0. If a syntax
error is encountered, visudo will exit with a value of 1.
-f Specify and alternate sudoers file location. With this option
visudo will edit (or check) the sudoers file of your choice,
instead of the default, @sysconfdir@/sudoers. The lock file used
is the specified sudoers file with ".tmp" appended to it.
-q Enable quiet mode. In this mode details about syntax errors are
not printed. This option is only useful when combined with the -c
flag.
-s Enable strict checking of the sudoers file. If an alias is used
before it is defined, visudo will consider this a parse error.
Note that it is not possible to differentiate between an alias and
a hostname or username that consists solely of uppercase letters,
digits, and the underscore (’_’) character.
-V The -V (version) option causes visudo to print its version number
and exit.
ERRORS
sudoers file busy, try again later.
Someone else is currently editing the sudoers file.
/etc/sudoers.tmp: Permission denied
You didn’t run visudo as root.
Can’t find you in the passwd database
Your userid does not appear in the system passwd file.
Warning: undeclared Alias referenced near ...
Either you are using a {User,Runas,Host,Cmnd}_Alias before defin-
ing it or you have a user or hostname listed that consists solely
of uppercase letters, digits, and the underscore (’_’) character.
If the latter, you can ignore the warnings (sudo will not com-
plain). In -s (strict) mode these are errors, not warnings.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables are used only if visudo was con-
figured with the --with-env-editor option:
EDITOR Invoked by visudo as the editor to use
VISUAL Used Invoked visudo if EDITOR is not set
FILES
/etc/sudoers List of who can run what
/etc/sudoers.tmp Lock file for visudo
AUTHOR
Many people have worked on sudo over the years; this version of visudo
was written by:
Todd Miller <Todd.Miller@courtesan.com>
See the HISTORY file in the sudo distribution or visit
http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/history.html for more details.
BUGS
If you feel you have found a bug in sudo, please submit a bug report
at http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/bugs/
DISCLAIMER
Visudo is provided ‘‘AS IS’’ and any express or implied warranties,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantabil-
ity and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. See the
LICENSE file distributed with sudo for complete details.
CAVEATS
There is no easy way to prevent a user from gaining a root shell if
the editor used by visudo allows shell escapes.
SEE ALSO
vi(1), sudoers(5), sudo(8), vipw(8)
1.6.7 March 13, 2003 VISUDO(8)
