“Sharing root authority with less risk by using sudo for
allowing only certain root-only commands, restricting other
commands and logging command activity.”
“Often you may need to give certain users the ability to use or
access privileged commands or files. On most Unix-type systems,
root has complete permission, all privilege and, in other words,
total power. (Some trusted operating systems can limit root’s
privileges.)”
“Instead of just handing out your root password to various users
or beginning sys-admins or changing numerous programs as set uid
root (to run as root), you can use sudo (which stands for
“superuser do”) to allow them to run certain commands as the super
user (or as another user). Using sudo is also an idea for running
scripts as another user since setting the suid bit for scripts does
not work.”
“Running on a per-command basis, sudo offers a variety of
features to help control or limit use for specified users by
command and machine, plus it also logs activity for auditing
purposes.”