Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!uunet!in1.uu.net!206.154.70.8!news.webspan.net!newsfeeds.sol.net!news.pagesat.net!skypoint.com!not-for-mail From: Mike Ekholm <ekholm@mirage.skypoint.com> Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list? Date: 24 May 1997 02:36:05 GMT Organization: SkyPoint Communications, Inc. Lines: 53 Message-ID: <5m5k6l$jbf$2@shadow.skypoint.net> References: <5kd2ng$c8b$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de> <337B106B.4021@att.com> <5li53q$gvo@overload.lbl.gov> <337C9EFF.10B4D946@uniQserve.com> <EAAHDD.7E2@midway.uchicago.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: mirage.skypoint.com X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 unoff BETA 970424; i386 UNIX_SV 4.2MP] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45364 comp.os.linux.misc:176702 comp.os.linux.x:62352 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3397 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:41518 gnu.misc.discuss:31463 comp.unix.solaris:107436 back with the good man pages. i wonder what the null device man page looks like In comp.unix.shell Eric Fischer <eric@fudge.uchicago.edu> wrote: : Dr. Borg <vladiQmip@uniQserve.com> wrote: : > > su - super-user, temporarily switch to a new user ID : > : > This is obviously wrong. One can 'su' from one user to another : > and it doesn't have to be superuser. Also, one can 'su' from : > superuser status to a regular user with normal privileges. I : > think "Switch User" has been so far the best interpretation of : > 'su' in this thread. : No sense of history! In early versions of Unix, the su command was : only capable of switching to root. It was extended to switch to : arbitrary users beginning in the Seventh Edition. I enclose a copy : of the Sixth Edition man page below: : --------------------------------------------------------------------- : SU(VIII) 10/31/73 SU(VIII) : NAME : su - become privileged user : SYNOPSIS : su : DESCRIPTION : Su allows one to become the super-user, who has all sorts : of marvelous (and correspondingly dangerous) powers. In : order for su to do its magic, the user must supply a password. : If the password is correct, su will execute the Shell with the : UID set to that of the super-user. To restore normal UID : privileges, type an end-of-file to the super-user Shell. : The password demanded is that of the entry "root" in the : system's password file. : To remind the super-user of his responsibilities, the Shell : substitutes '#' for its usual prompt '%'. : SEE ALSO : sh(I) : --------------------------------------------------------------------- : Eric -- ekholm@skypoint.com | http://www.skypoint.com/~ekholm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "All I ask for is a T1 to my house, is that too much to ask for?"