VIM: "sudo vim bad_idea"?
An irc-user in #Vim urged me not to use Sudo with Vim like:
sudo vim bad_idea
When I am doing things in locations such as /var/www/, I cannot write without it. So not-using sudo becomes a problem. Of course, I could make changes in different locations such as /tmp/ and then copy dirs to /var/www. However, I sense an easier way.
- If you do not "sudo Vim", why?
- If yes to 1st question, how do you circumvent problems not to use sudo?
I fall under the first category: sudo vim /var/www/html/some_file is a bad idea; it allows shell escapes that aren't logged. Instead, use sudoedit /var/www/html/some_file; that has the same effect.
Refer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1005/getting-root-permissions-on-a-file-inside-of-vi:
% is replaced with the current file name, thus you can use:
:w !sudo tee %
vim allows users to execute arbitrary shell commands, therefore many system admins do not allow vim to be used with sudo.
rvim is included with vim. It is a restricted vim, that does not allow shell commands. (Or allow you to suspend vim, for the same reasons.)
Whether you need to go to those extremes on your own box is debatable.
When editing system-wide configuration files, it's totally okay---just always remember you're root and thus have all the power, and drop those privileges as soon as you don't need them anymore.
In the special case /var/www/, i.e. web server pages, you might want to think about changing some ownerships / groups / permissions---but if and how largely depends on your particular setup (single / multi user, real web server / just localhost, dynamic / static, etc.)