How do I open a file for edit as root with Aquamacs?

aquamacs, emacs, macos, sudo

Solution

You can open a file as root using TRAMP (bundled with Emacs since version 22.1):

C-x C-f `/sudo:root@localhost:/path/to/file` RET

If you don't insert the `username@host` part, TRAMP defaults to `root@localhost` when using `/sudo`, so you can shorten the syntax to

C-x C-f `/sudo::/path/to/file` RET

Problem

I'm using Aquamacs to do most of my text editing, and would like to, selectively, open some files as root when editing them. Is there a way for me to open some files as root with Aquamacs (and not the rest)? I know that I can just start Aquamacs with a sudo command, but that's a bit too risky for me - I'd rather only have root permissions for editing files which absolutely require it.

Original source

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