sudo su - versus sudo -i

[Wim Sturkenboom]

In a thread I suggested to use sudo su - to become root temporarily. I was advised that sudo -i would be a better choice.

I'm very curious why that is the case. Threads that I've found omit the dash from the first command, so don't apply.

"var"               |"sudo su -"                                                    |"sudo -i"
--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"SHELL"             |"/bin/bash"                                                    |"/bin/bash"
"TERM"              |"linux"                                                        |"linux"
"USER"              |"root"                                                         |"root"
"LS_COLORS"         |                                                               |
"MAIL"              |"/var/mail/root"                                               |"/var/mail/wim"
"PATH"              |"/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" |"/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games"
"PWD"               |"/root"                                                        |"/root"
"LANG"              |"en_ZA.UTF-8"                                                  |"en_ZA.UTF-8"
"SPEECHD_PORT"      |6560                                                           |6560
"SHLVL"             |1                                                              |1
"HOME"              |"/root"                                                        |"/root"
"LOGNAME"           |"root"                                                         |"root"
"LESSOPEN"          |"| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s"                                       |"| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s"
"LESSCLOSE"         |"/usr/bin/lesspipe %s %s"                                      |"/usr/bin/lesspipe %s %s"
"_"                 |"/usr/bin/env"                                                 |"/usr/bin/env"
--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"XDG_SESSION_COOKIE"|"a7a40db8cf4c937acb049b764d08c288-1312375570.325101-1940988668"|
"SUDO_USER"         |                                                               |"wim"
"SUDO_UID"          |                                                               |1000
"USERNAME"          |                                                               |"root"
"SUDO_GID"          |                                                               |1000

Highlighted in red are the differences in the environment (mail, path and the 5 lines at the end). Please explain to me why sudo -i is the better choice.

[bodhi.zazen]

You are correct , the difference is with the resulting environmental variables.

sudo -i is "cleaner"

See: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...26&postcount=4

If you have your user environmental variables it can cause either a (minor) security risk or ownership of your files in your home directory owned by root, which from time to time causes breakage, you will see it come up about once a month on these forums.

[Wim Sturkenboom]

That post does not cover the specific command that I use. Note the dash at the end of sudo su - which (according to man su) sets the correct environment.

The optional argument - may be used to provide an environment similar to what the user would expect had the user logged in directly.

And from the results I showed, I don't see root's environmental variables being corrupted.

It sets a cleaner path () as root does not play games And one can actually say that sudo -i corrupts root's mail variable.

But that might be nitpicking (or whatever it is called in english).

[sisco311]

The behavior of sudo -i and su - is well documented in man sudo and man su, respectively.

When you run sudo su -, you use two different setuid root commands. It's much harder to predict which variables will be reset and which will be kept.

[sisco311]

It sets a cleaner path () as root does not play games And one can actually say that sudo -i corrupts root's mail variable.

But that might be nitpicking (or whatever it is called in english).

According to the man page sudo -i leaves DISPLAY and TERM unchanged and sets HOME, MAIL, SHELL, USER, LOGNAME, and PATH, as well as the contents of /etc/environment on Linux and AIX systems.

In Ubuntu, by default, the PATH is set in /etc/environment.

Not sure why didn't reset MAIL for you, it works here as expected.

[bodhi.zazen]

That post does not cover the specific command that I use. Note the dash at the end of sudo su - which (according to man su) sets the correct environment.


And from the results I showed, I don't see root's environmental variables being corrupted.

It sets a cleaner path () as root does not play games And one can actually say that sudo -i corrupts root's mail variable.

But that might be nitpicking (or whatever it is called in english).

You can use what you like. I was merely answering your question

Please explain to me why sudo -i is the better choice.

So while you may agree or disagree, I am not interested in debating the issue, and most (not all) people advise sudo -i for the reasons I cited.

With that, I consider your question asked and answered.

[Wim Sturkenboom]

Not sure why didn't reset MAIL for you, it works here as expected.

Just checked on another system withe the same 64 bit 10.04 LTS). 'mail' is not even set when I use sudo -i (but is with sudo su -) ??

Something funny going on.

[bodhi.zazen]

Just checked on another system withe the same 64 bit 10.04 LTS). 'mail' is not even set when I use sudo -i (but is with sudo su -) ??

Something funny going on.

That is not the way my system works either, sudo -i and sudo su - both set $MAIL.

Check your config files (.bashrc to start with, perhaps /etc/sudoers as well).