sudoers file has me stumped

[Jalexxi]

I'm setting up a computer and I've encountered a problem which I can't seem to find the solution to. I need to do one very simple thing, I want to give a user the privilege to run one single command (smbmount) as root, because I want to mount a samba share on a server on startup (I'm using rc.local for that). When using the root user, everything works fine, but the non-root users need this mount to happen as well, but they don't have the privileges required to mount it. I tried to edit the sudoers file, but it's completely unfathomable to me. Can anyone help me out?

[Hospadar]

You should add that user to the "admin" group, generally you don't ever change sudoers unless you have a very complicated server type setup

[Jalexxi]

The reason I'm not making the user a full administrator is because I don't want to give root access, or access to administrative functions for that matter. All I need is that single command that can be run as root.

[gn2]

I'm setting up a computer and I've encountered a problem which I can't seem to find the solution to. I need to do one very simple thing, I want to give a user the privilege to run one single command (smbmount) as root, because I want to mount a samba share on a server on startup (I'm using rc.local for that). When using the root user, everything works fine, but the non-root users need this mount to happen as well, but they don't have the privileges required to mount it. I tried to edit the sudoers file, but it's completely unfathomable to me. Can anyone help me out?

The Network browsing link in my signature might be useful.

[caljohnsmith]

I'm setting up a computer and I've encountered a problem which I can't seem to find the solution to. I need to do one very simple thing, I want to give a user the privilege to run one single command (smbmount) as root, because I want to mount a samba share on a server on startup (I'm using rc.local for that). When using the root user, everything works fine, but the non-root users need this mount to happen as well, but they don't have the privileges required to mount it. I tried to edit the sudoers file, but it's completely unfathomable to me. Can anyone help me out?
Sure, just do "sudo visudo" to open up sudoers with vi, or if you prefer to use nano like I do, you can use "export EDITOR=nano && sudo -E visudo".

To give the user the privilege to run the command as root, with their password, just put a line at the end of the file that looks like:

<username> ALL = PASSWD: /usr/bin/smbmount
Make sure that path to the smbmount command is correct, and of course replace <username> with their username.

[Jalexxi]

Thanks, caljohnsmith, that did the trick! Also, the nano command was handy, I prefer that editor as well.
I'll try the Thunar network browsing too, thanks for the tip, gn2!

[FeyerbrandX]

Sure, just do "sudo visudo" to open up sudoers with vi, or if you prefer to use nano like I do, you can use "export EDITOR=nano && sudo -E visudo".

I am having the same problem as Jalexxi was, I want to make firestarter start without requiring the password to initialize.

I've tried the above commands, sudo visudo in the terminal just seems to allow me to read without editing ability (not even entering text), the nano type command allows me to enter text, but my own ignorance keeps me from saving the file. If you can help me to save this file, it'd be appreciated.

[sisco311]

in nano:
Ctrl+o Enter - save
Ctrl+x - exit
Ctrl+x, Y, Enter - save and exit

[FeyerbrandX]

Thanks Sisco,

I've managed to add the following strings to the end of the sudoers file:

hpuntu ALL=NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/firestarter
Jason ALL=NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/firestarter

In line with what the firestarter site recommended, however they still don't recognize the bypass at startup. Am I overlooking a space, or adding one that shouldn't be?

[bodhi.zazen]

Thanks Sisco,

I've managed to add the following strings to the end of the sudoers file:

hpuntu ALL=NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/firestarter
Jason ALL=NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/firestarter

In line with what the firestarter site recommended, however they still don't recognize the bypass at startup. Am I overlooking a space, or adding one that shouldn't be?

You should not be starting Firestarter this way. Firestarter is a graphical front end for iptables and should be used to configure iptables only (Firestarter should then be closed). Your firewall will remain active, even with rebooting.

As you can see, firestarter runs as root and should not be used to monitor your network.

Even better then firestarter, use ufw :

community/Uncomplicated_Firewall_ufw