Todd C. Miller – Sudo maintainer for over 30 years
by wodniok on 2/2/2026, 5:25:26 PM
Comments
by: OsamaJaber
30+ years maintaining one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure on nearly every Linux and Unix system, and he's currently looking for a sponsor to fund continued development. Every company running sudo in production owes this man. Someone should fix that
2/2/2026, 6:16:13 PM
by: fdupress
Seeing the server temperatures go up as this gets posted to HN is fun. I'm not sure his server agrees.
2/2/2026, 6:03:27 PM
by: wodniok
Quote from Website: "For the past 30+ years I’ve been the maintainer of sudo. I’m currently in search of a sponsor to fund continued sudo maintenance and development. If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring sudo, please let me know."
2/2/2026, 5:25:26 PM
by: jmclnx
I would <i>love</i> to know were IBM is on this. They use sudo everywhere, even on AIX. Not to mention IBM owns Red Hat Linux.<p>IBM should be able to send a decent amount to Todd once in a while, but based upon how much IBM supports ssh ($0), all they are proving is they are very cheap and only wants be a parasite living off other's work.
2/2/2026, 5:51:09 PM
by: akokanka
Have used sudo millions of times. It's so smooth I don't even consider it software. Thinking that sudo could give me bug one day haunts me now. Thanks Miller for your work!
2/2/2026, 5:50:50 PM
by: jandrese
Honestly he should open a Patreon. There are loads of people that would subscribe to Sudo for $2/month or $5/month.
2/2/2026, 6:18:11 PM
by: calvinmorrison
I once wrote hacking is ethical. Maybe I meant 'eventual'. Instead of Red-Hat sponsoring sudo, china can sponsor him to put hacks in.
2/2/2026, 6:10:38 PM
by: fHr
Unbelievable, every fortune 500 company should sponsor this you all rely and use this. This makes me so sad I hope this has a good end.
2/2/2026, 6:29:30 PM
by: kleiba
Obligatory xkcd: <a href="https://xkcd.com/2347/" rel="nofollow">https://xkcd.com/2347/</a>
2/2/2026, 6:13:38 PM
by: stego-tech
This is why Big Tech is so desperate for AI to work as a wholesale replacement for software developers: they do not pay for their Open Source consumption as-is, and new maintainers aren’t stepping up because they can’t afford rent, let alone to devote their full time to FOSS work free of charge like a lot of older project maintainers do.<p>The fact that sudo is a critical security pillar for trillions of dollars of global infrastructure but this guy gets bupkis for it screams volumes about the current state of technology.<p>We must do better, or it’ll be closed systems (OpenAI, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Oracle) all the way down as maintainers age out, go bankrupt, or die without succession plans in place.
2/2/2026, 5:33:27 PM
by: zerotolerance
But today people can just vibe code their own sudo "with blackjack and hookers!"<p>/s<p>Really though, it is remarkable just how high we've built this towering house of cards on the selfless works of individuals. The geek in me immediately begins meditating on OSS funding mechanisms I've seen in the past, and what might work today. Then I remember that I don't believe it can work, but hope desperately that people like Todd can keep paying rent and continue getting some satisfaction from the efforts.
2/2/2026, 6:14:46 PM