Original artwork, not a still
xkcd #149, "Sandwich" (2006)
Sudo make me a sandwich.
— xkcd • 2005
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The joke works because sudo is the word that ends every permissions argument: if the machine won't let you, you add it and it does. Here it overrides a person instead of a computer, and the friend simply obeys. It became the stock reply for anyone asking a favour in nerd company, and the sudo project itself later adopted a sandwich as its logo.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for xkcdShow the scene
In xkcd strip 149, "Sandwich", posted on 28 August 2006, Cueball sits on a couch and tells a friend to make him a sandwich. The friend refuses and tells him to make it himself. Cueball tries again with one extra word at the front, the Unix command that runs anything as the all-powerful root user, and the friend gives in with a flat "Okay." The title text adds a gag about policy, saying a proper user policy apparently means Simon Says.
Sources (1)
- explain xkcd: 149: SandwichComic header, Transcript, Explanation and Trivia sectionsReference checked
Context reviewed
