Ubuntu Linux runs the the desktop as a regular user account, and so all programs launched are launched in the context of a normal user account.
To run a command-line program with superuser(root) priviledges, you normally will preceed the command with “sudo”, as shown in this example:
sudo gedit filename.txt
Ubuntu provides a graphical alternative to the sudo command that you have probably seen if you attempt to run any administrative tool: you’ve got the option to easily and quickly run any program as root by preceeding the command with the “gksu” command.
For instance, let’s launch xterm as root by hitting Alt+F2 to bring up the quick run dialog:
We’ll first see the password dialog shown above, key in your password… and there we go - we now have a terminal running as root:
Easy stuff!
