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7

How can I run everything as root

rated 0 times [ 7] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 30564 / 1 Year ago, sun, december 18, 2022, 6:18:04

I have dual booted to lubuntu (with Windows XP) and everytime and then I'm getting asked for my password. How do I run everything as root and not ask a password again? Ideally I wanted to run nginx but it has permission denied issues:

apathetic@ubuntu:~$ service nginx start

Starting nginx: nginx: [alert] could not open error log file: open() "/var/log/nginx/error.log" failed (13: Permission denied)

2012/08/03 20:06:25 [warn] 4762#0: the "user" directive makes sense only if the master process runs with super-user privileges, ignored in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:1

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok

2012/08/03 20:06:25 [emerg] 4762#0: open() "/var/run/nginx.pid" failed (13: Permission denied)

nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed

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3 Years ago

answered 1 Year ago ionodest · Accepted Answer

It's a bad idea to run everything as root.

For things that actually need to be run as root (which includes service nginx start), the best way is to use sudo:

sudo service nginx start

By default, this will ask for your password if you haven't entered it in the last 15 minutes.

You can configure /etc/sudoers to let you run commands as root without entering your password using NOPASSWD. man sudoers for details.

(The visudo command is the recommended way to edit /etc/sudoers.)

If you insist on executing commands directly as root, you can launch a root shell with

sudo bash

or

 sudo -i

(equivalent to sudo --login).

My advice: Don't do this. Typing sudo for every command that actually needs root access helps remind you not to use it unnecessarily. It's very easy to shoot yourself in the foot.