Being a unix noob, what does this command do?$sudo /usr/bin/su -somethingIs -something a password or username for running commands under this username?
What does a sudo command do?
sudo
The purpose of sudo is to execute the command given to it with root privileges.The purpose of su is to switch the current user context. It is basically a precursor to sudo. If no user name is specified for su, then it switches to root.Exactly what su will do depends on the value of -something. You can get some guidance by looking at man su.sudo su on its own is a fairly common trick to drop to a root shell, if for some reason sudo -i isn't available.