I switched from sudo to doas and now my permission rules actually make sense

I switched from sudo to doas and now my permission rules actually make sense

https://www.makeuseof.com/switched-sudo-to-doas-now-permission-rules-make-sense/

Publish Date: 2026-04-04 10:00:00

Source Domain: www.makeuseof.com

Sudo is a command that’s become muscle memory for just about every Linux user on the planet. Whenever you need to run something with elevated privileges, sudo just comes up automatically. But sudo is old, and there’s a better way to elevate privileges in the Linux terminal you might be ignoring.

Just like switching from a “daily driver” OS can improve your workflow instantly, switching from sudo to doas on Linux can do the same for your terminal workflow. I made the switch, and my permission rules finally make sense.

Sudo is powerful—but way too messy

Overcomplicated rules that most people barely understand

Screenshot taken by Yadullah Abidi | No attribution required.

Sudo is everywhere. It ships with Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, and just about every major Linux distro you’ve ever heard of. For most Linux users, it’s the prefix you use before a command when your user account doesn’t have permission to run it, and that’s it. It’s one of those Linux terminal commands that fix most system problems.

However, the problem is sudo’s complexity. The sudo source code is approximately 160,000 lines of C. If you include configuration and support files, that number goes over 223,000. For a tool whose primary job is to run a given command as root, that’s a staggering amount of code running a privileged process.

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