Which Linux command or utility is simple, powerful, and surprisingly unknown to many people or used less often?
This could be a command or a piece of software or an application.
For example I’m surprised to find that many people are unaware of Caddy, a very simple web server that can make setting up a reverse proxy incredibly easy.
Another example is fzf. Many people overlook this, a fast command-line fuzzy finder. It’s versatile for searching files, directories, or even shell history with minimal effort.
Lightweight sudo alternatives, hard to google too. I know ssu and rdo, please mention others.
OpenDoas, or simply doas, as in do [command] as [user]
Thanks, couldn’t get it ever to work tho, and it doesn’t come with a default config in Arch.
Because it’s so simple, a good default config can be a one-liner. For similar functionality to default sudo:
Allows members of
wheelto run commands as any user (if you just rundoas <cmd>it will default to root), and “persists” for 5 minutes, ie if you run doas then for the next 5 minutes in the same session you won’t have to enter your password to run doas again, similar to default sudo settings.https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Doas
What problems were you having where you couldn’t get it to work?
Always got permission denied, no matter what in the config. But thanks, i’ll try again.
Why should I use a sudo alternative?
Because sudo is best suited for server administration, way overengineered (with the occasional critical vulnerability) for desktop use.
Alternatives can fit the required functionality for desktop use in 150 loc C code while sudo has what, something over 100’000 loc?