Sudo

Elevate to root using the sudo command.

sudo <somecommand>

Elevate to a Root Shell

sudo su

The above is sometimes frowned upon if you want every elevated command logged for strict auditing.

Configure which users and groups can sudo and to which commands by editing the /etc/sudoers file (or sometimes /etc/sudoers.d/... include files).

Use the visudo command because it validates the changes before it allows saving them.

This command drop you into your $EDITOR if it's set (see IntelliJ page), or if not set then it'll open /etc/sudoers in the classic vi editor.

sudo visudo

If you want to add to another file under /etc/sudoers.d/ then:

sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/hari

Replace hari with your username.

The line you need to add is:

hari        ALL = (ALL) ALL

Ensure if you're create a new file /etc/sudoers.d/hari that you set correct permissions:

sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/hari

To allow your user to use sudo without having to enter their password every 5 minutes, set the line to:

hari        ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Ensure the above line comes after the following line found by default on macOS:

%admin      ALL = (ALL) ALL

as this %admin line requires a password for all members of the admin group which you will be in on your macOS.

Test sudo permission by first invalidating your sudo cached credential:

sudo -k

and then retrying a basic command which should return successfully without a password prompt:

sudo -n echo success