*BSD News Article 37901


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From: bmk@teleport.com (bmk)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: Why can't I su to root?
Date: 15 Nov 1994 05:33:38 -0800
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Lines: 29
Distribution: usa
Message-ID: <3aadbi$863@linda.teleport.com>
References: <39rpt8$iva@news.CCIT.Arizona.EDU> <kargl-1111941013490001@spleen.apl.washington.edu> <CzAF0n.4nE@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl>
Reply-To: bmk@teleport.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: linda.teleport.com

In article <CzAF0n.4nE@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl>,
Jan de Jongh <dejongh@overdrive.cpr.nl> wrote:
>In article <kargl-1111941013490001@spleen.apl.washington.edu>, kargl@apl.washington.edu (Steven G. Kargl) writes:
>|> 
>|> Wrong.  You need to edit /etc/group and add your login name
>|> to wheel's group.
>
>Why is that necessary? The user should be added to the group

It's necessary because that's how it works. :)  The GID specified in
/etc/passwd sets your effective GID in core.  su checks the /etc/group
file for authorization.  All of the Unixes that I use do it the same
way.

>specified in his/her /etc/passwd entry automatically. Or..?
>I also noticed that when I specify a valid group there (>0), all
>files I create are of group 'wheel', as long as my home-directory is
>of group wheel. When I change the group of my homedir to (say)
>'rtfm', all files I create are of group 'rtfm'. This cannot be
>a coincidence, and it must be a faq...

No, it's no coincidence.  That's the standard BSD behavior.  System V
does it differently.



-- 
bmk@dtr.com  | WWW: http://www.teleport.com/~bmk/
Portland, OR |      http://www.teleport.com/~bmk/patriot.html