maemo.org - Talk - cant login as root

if he messed with that file on a maemo device he could have serious problems and be unable to EVER log in as root again. but hey, maybe this question has nothing to do with n900, how should we know?

Quote:

A note on sudo
This information is aimed at people who come to maemo from other linux distributions (Debian for example) that may have used sudo in a different way.

In fremantle (Maemo 5) sudo is a key part of the system. It is used by system processes that are started as the user to provide access (as root) when needed.

Examples of this are: Media Tracker. The firmware version on the 'Settings' > 'About Product' page.

Both of these will malfunction if there are problems with sudo.

Sudo relies on /etc/sudoers, a configuration file that details who can run what commands. /etc/sudoers is traditionally modified by using the 'visudo' command. DO NOT DO THIS ON MAEMO. In maemo sudoers is regenerated periodically from config snippets in /etc/sudoers.d/, using visudo can cause the slow death of your system as your edit gets pushed further down /etc/sudoers.

For those who don't know, /etc/sudoers works on a last match principle, so if your edit conflicts with entries above it, it will break those entries.

The 'correct' way to do this would be to put your entry in a file in /etc/sudoers.d/. I leave the detail of this up the experience of the end-user. Just be advised that using visudo runs the risk of subtly breaking your system.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.maemo.org/Root_access"

now he didn't tell us where in the file he put that, and I don't know how that works anyways, but visudo just runs the editor to edit the file which is what he's gone and done...