Changes

Administrative users will have the permission to execute 'super user do' (sudo) commands. This privilege is granted by adding the user to the 'wheel' group. By granting privileges, it's easier to use system accounting to see who is doing what. Much better than handing out the root password to multiple persons. If you're in the wheel group, then you can issue <code>sudo</code> commands without a password. This is implemented on new machine setups by issuing the <code>visudo</code> command and uncommenting the line for <code>%wheel NOPASSWD</code>. Of course, you'll also need to run <code>usermod -a -G wheel $USER</code> to add the $USER to the wheel group.

The $USER must logout and login again to reload their group memberships. Alternatively, just issue <code>su - $USER</code> or <code>newgrp</code> (with no arguments); or start a new shell which will inherit the new group memberships.

{{References}}