Sudoers
The linux sudoers file defines users with the permission to use the sudo command.
To see if you currently have permission to use sudo then simply test at the cli.
sudo ls
For Debian based Ubuntu and Mint:
users in the adm group can execute sudo. Rather than editing the /etc/sudoers file it is better to edit the /etc/group file using the following command (from another user account with sudo privileges)
sudo vigr
Now add your user account to the adm group.
You must log out and back in again for the changes to impact your shell.
It has been observed that logging out of the cinnamon desktop session on Mint and back in does not seem to be sufficient. If you are frustrated, just reboot the machine.
BECOME A SUDOER
Historically this simply meant you needed to add the specific user to the /etc/sudoers file. This worked on UNIXWARE, FreeBSD, and Linux in general 10+ years ago however systems have changed. Although it is still technically possible to directly edit sudoers and add a specific username, it is not recommended on most distributions to do it this way and on some the file may be overwritten on reboot of the system.
STEPS TO BECOME A SUDOER ON A UBUNTU/MINT LINUX SYSTEM
- add user to sudoers group: vigr
- add user to shadow group: vigr -s
- restart sudo service: sudo service sudo restart
COMMEND ON SYSTEM WON'T ACKNOWLEDGE CHANGES TO SUDOERS: "I just did this and yes, I did in fact have to reboot. So, maybe the previous answer wasn't wrong, but it definitely isn't right 100% of the time. Writing this in case someone else is looking for the answer as I just was." -Andrew Harrell on Ask Ubuntu
It would be bad if this was not at a kernel level and required a system wide restart, too much like Micro$oft. Not verified. Further testing required.
Also user needs to make sure sudoers is not commended out in the /etc/sudoers file: type visudo
