<p>In the absence of a reason, I'm going to assume it's specific to their distro, and they meant <em>"we only created (and always use) the root account, so our documentation assumes you are logged in as root. We haven't tested for odd corner cases that arise because of subtle differences in the way <code>sudo</code> works".</em></p>

<p><code>sudo</code> is considered <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo" rel="nofollow">more secure</a> than logging in as root for a number of reasons. It should <strong>always</strong> be used on mainstream distros.</p>

<p>But for a tiny USB stick distro (with no ability to login as root over the network), the security benefits of <code>sudo</code> may not be worth the complexity.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-16T18:49:45.017Z
2014-03-16T18:49:45.017Z
BraveNewCurrency
<p>The <a href="https://github.com/aaronwolfe/Big-A-Miner-Thing/wiki/Faq" rel="nofollow">official BAMT faq</a> says "<strong>never</strong> use sudo. <strong>never never</strong>, <strong>always</strong> log in as root. <em>[emphasis in original]</em>". Is this a BAMT-specific issue, a more general issue with <code>sudo</code> that I should ask about on Super User or Server Fault, or what? I can't find any general complaints warranting this strong a reaction, and I can't find anything BAMT specific. Why, in an application where security is usually important, should I <strong>never</strong> use a tool which is designed to enhance security and which I've never heard this complaint about before?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-21T16:43:05.813Z
And yet on this page they recommend that you use SUDO to set the root password: http://bamter.org/redmine/news/2
mjcopple
<security><bamt>
Setting up BAMT root access
Daniel H
# Setting up BAMT root access

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-08-20)

The [official BAMT faq](https://github.com/aaronwolfe/Big-A-Miner-Thing/wiki/Faq) says "**never** use sudo. **never never**, **always** log in as root. *[emphasis in original]*". Is this a BAMT-specific issue, a more general issue with `sudo` that I should ask about on Super User or Server Fault, or what? I can't find any general complaints warranting this strong a reaction, and I can't find anything BAMT specific. Why, in an application where security is usually important, should I **never** use a tool which is designed to enhance security and which I've never heard this complaint about before?

**Tags:** security, bamt

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: And yet on this page they recommend that you use SUDO to set the root password: http://bamter.org/redmine/news/2  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-03-16. Score: 1

In the absence of a reason, I'm going to assume it's specific to their distro, and they meant *"we only created (and always use) the root account, so our documentation assumes you are logged in as root. We haven't tested for odd corner cases that arise because of subtle differences in the way `sudo` works".*

`sudo` is considered [more secure](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo) than logging in as root for a number of reasons. It should **always** be used on mainstream distros.

But for a tiny USB stick distro (with no ability to login as root over the network), the security benefits of `sudo` may not be worth the complexity.


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