=cut Copyright (c) 1996,1998-1999 Todd C. Miller All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission from the author. 4. Products derived from this software may not be called "Sudo" nor may "Sudo" appear in their names without specific prior written permission from the author. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. $Sudo: visudo.pod,v 1.20 2000/03/27 03:26:24 millert Exp $ =pod =head1 NAME visudo - edit the sudoers file =head1 SYNOPSIS B [ B<-s> ] [ B<-V> ] =head1 DESCRIPTION B edits the I file in a safe fashion, analogous to vipw(@mansectsu@). B locks the I file against multiple simultaneous edits, provides basic sanity checks, and checks for parse errors. If the I file is currently being edited you will receive a message to try again later. In the default configuration, the vi(1) editor is used, but there is a compile time option to allow use of whatever editor the environment variables C or C are set to. B parses the I file after the edit and will not save the changes if there is a syntax error. Upon finding an error, a message will be printed stating the line number(s) that the error occurred on and the user will receive the "What now?" prompt. At this point the user may enter "e" to re-edit the I file, enter "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 B believes there to be a parse error, so will B and no one will be able to execute B again until the error is fixed. Any other command at this prompt will print a short help message. When editing the I 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). =head1 OPTIONS B accepts the following command line option: =over 4 =item -s Enable B checking of the I file. If an alias is used before it is defined, B 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 upper case letters, digits, and the underscore ('_') character. =item -V The C<-V> (version) option causes B to print the version number and exit. =back =head1 ERRORS =over 4 =item sudoers file busy, try again later. Someone else is currently editing the I file. =item @sysconfdir@/sudoers.tmp: Permission denied You didn't run B as root. =item Can't find you in the passwd database Your userid does not appear in the system passwd file. =item Warning: undeclared Alias referenced near ... Either you are using a {User,Runas,Host,Cmnd}_Alias before defining it or you have a user or hostname listed that consists solely of upper case letters, digits, and the underscore ('_') character. If the latter, you can ignore the warnings (B will not complain). In B<-s> (strict) mode these are errors not warnings. =back =head1 ENVIRONMENT The following environment variables are used only if B was configured with the I<--with-env-editor> option: EDITOR Used by visudo as the editor to use VISUAL Used by visudo if EDITOR is not set =head1 FILES @sysconfdir@/sudoers List of who can run what @sysconfdir@/sudoers.tmp Lock file for visudo =head1 AUTHOR Many people have worked on I over the years, this version of B was written by: Todd Miller See the HISTORY file in the sudo distribution for more details. =head1 BUGS If you feel you have found a bug in sudo, please submit a bug report at http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/bugs/ =head1 DISCLAIMER B is provided ``AS IS'' and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. See the LICENSE file distributed with B for complete details. =head1 CAVEATS There is no easy way to prevent a user from gaining a root shell if the editor used by B allows shell escapes. =head1 SEE ALSO sudo(@mansectsu@), vipw(@mansectsu@).