[5] It originally stood for "superuser do",[6] as that was all it did, and this remains its most common usage;[7] however, the official Sudo project page lists it as "su 'do'".

After authentication, and if the configuration file (typically /etc/sudoers) permits the user access, the system invokes the requested command.

[12] The current version has been publicly maintained by OpenBSD developer Todd C. Miller since 1994,[12] and has been distributed under an ISC-style license since 1999.

[12] In November 2009 Thomas Claburn, in response to concerns that Microsoft had patented sudo,[13] characterized such suspicions as overblown.

[23] Sudo features an easter egg that can be enabled from the configuration file that will display an insult every time an incorrect password is entered.

It functions similarly to its Unix counterpart by giving the ability to run elevated commands from an unelevated console session.

[30] The program runas provides comparable functionality in Windows, but it cannot pass current directories, environment variables or long command lines to the child.

Hamilton C shell also includes true su and sudo for Windows that can pass all of that state information and start the child either elevated or as another user (or both).

[31][32] Graphical user interfaces exist for sudo – notably gksudo – but are deprecated in Debian and no longer included in Ubuntu.