Problems with sudo

[Kevin D. Clark]

Dan Ritter writes:

[in a hypothetical memo from senior_manager]
>   Root or administrative privileges are available by default for
>   your desktop (or laptop) systems. You must keep the existing
>   /etc/sudoers file intact to allow sysadmin staff to assist
>   you.
> 
>   No one will directly use a root or administrative privileged
>   account on any development or production system, except for
>   authorized sysadmin staff. Privileges may be granted via
>   'sudo' for specific users on specific machines.

OK, I'll bite.

Let me ask a not-very-hypothetical question.  Suppose I am an engineer
who writes code all day long.  Suppose I have a Linux development
machine [1], provided to me by ${the_company}.  Suppose that I am a big
fan of "Meld", the graphical diff tool.  Suppose that, in order to get
my work done, I want to install Meld onto my development machine.

What is the right way for me to go here?

1:  for me to install this myself.

2:  for me to contact the sysadmin staff and have them
    install this for me.


Thanks.

--kevin


[1]  I am very specifically asking this question about
     development machines and not production machines.

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