[ltp] Using "setserial /dev/ttyS* autoconfig" without root

[Kiko Piris]

On 23/09/2002 at 07:05, unlisted wrote:
> (now, i prefer emacs over vi, but back then i didn't know either, all i

If you want to use emacs as the editor for visudo, do the following:
export EDITOR=emacs
it will edit sudoers with emacs.  You can even try export EDITOR=kate (if you
use KDE) ...

> knew is that i wanted non-root users [my daily-use user account; for
> both scripts and interactive use] to execute commands as root without
> having to type a password.  but without knowing vi, how intuitive is it

But non-root users will never execute visudo ...

> to save a file?  or to even quit the stupid editor?  now you know why as
> a newbie i HATED [and still do] visudo.)

I don't want to begin a flamewar about vim vs. emacs. But, pearhaps you
will like this strips (or pearhaps not ...) ;-)

http://comic.escomposlinux.org/ecol-70-e.png
http://comic.escomposlinux.org/ecol-02-e.png

> read the manpage for visudo.  i don't think it's specific to debian (my
> distro), but it says that visudo locks the file against multiple edits,
> provides sanity checks, and checks for parse errors.  on a single user
> system multiple edits is not a big deal.  the file format for sudoers is
> not that complex (a lot easier to learn than the keybindings for vi!),
> and if you want a basic sanity check and check for syntax errors, try to
> execute sudo ("sudo -l" will be enough) after making an edit to the
> file.  believe me, it'll let you know if something is wrong with your
> sudoers file. ;-)
> 
> and as all good users do: always make backups.  (heck, do a quick "cp
> sudoers sudoers.orig" before editing the file.)

Thanks for the tip, but I use vim to write my email! ;-) I was forced to code
Cobol with it for 1 year, and now I can't live without it.

> enough of my rant.  nothing personal (except between visudo and myself
> ;-).

I guess your troubles are with vi (or vim), not with visudo ...

Best regards!

-- 
Kiko