Users, Groups & Sudo

Root powers should be deliberate. Here’s the full picture on an AcreetionOS system.

Your current identity

whoami ; id ; groups          # who you are + memberships
sudo whoami                   # tests admin path; expect 'root'

On AcreetionOS the installer puts your user into wheel, which sudoers allows to sudo.

Add another user

sudo useradd -m -G wheel,audio,video -s /bin/bash alice
sudo passwd alice             # set initial password

-m creates /home/alice; group list matches common desktop needs. Give admin rights simply by keeping wheel in her groups.

Sudo configuration (done right)

Edit policy with the safe editor, never a raw text editor:

sudo visudo

Shipped-relevant lines look like:

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL          # password required (default)
# %wheel NOPASSWD: ALL            # leave commented unless you know why

Per-user command subsets go in /etc/sudoers.d/:

echo "alice ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/timeshift" | \
  sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/alice-timeshift
sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/alice-timeshift
visudo -cf /etc/sudoers.d/alice-timeshift   # validate syntax!

A typo in sudoers can lock everyone out. Always edit via visudo/validate with -cf.

Disable / re-enable accounts

sudo usermod -L bob           # lock password auth
sudo usermod -U bob           # unlock
sudo passwd -l bob            # alternative lock
getent passwd | cut -d: -f1   # enumerate users

Delete a user (and their files)

sudo userdel -r alice         # -r removes /home/alice

Snapshot first per Timeshift — account deletion is instant and thorough.