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.TH "SU" "1" "10/01/2005" "User Commands" "User Commands"
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. \" disable hyphenation
.nh
. \" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
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.ad l
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.SH "NAME"
su \- change user ID or become super\- user
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
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.HP 3
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\fB su\fR [\- ] [\fI username\fR \ [\ \fIargs\fR\ ]]
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.SH "DESCRIPTION"
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.PP
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\fB su\fR
is used to become another user during a login session. Invoked without a username,
\fB su\fR
defaults to becoming the super user. The optional argument
\fB \- \fR
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may be used to provide an environment similar to what the user would expect had the user logged in directly.
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.PP
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Additional arguments may be provided after the username, in which case they are supplied to the user\(aa s login shell. In particular, an argument of
\fB \- c\fR
will cause the next argument to be treated as a command by most command interpreters. The command will be executed by the shell specified in
\fI /etc/passwd\fR
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for the target user.
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.PP
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The user will be prompted for a password, if appropriate. Invalid passwords will produce an error message. All attempts, both valid and invalid, are logged to detect abuses of the system.
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.PP
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The current environment is passed to the new shell. The value of
\fI $PATH\fR
is reset to
\fI /bin:/usr/bin\fR
for normal users, or
\fI /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin\fR
for the super user. This may be changed with the
\fI ENV_PATH\fR
and
\fI ENV_SUPATH\fR
definitions in
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\fI /etc/login.defs\fR .
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.PP
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A subsystem login is indicated by the presence of a "*" as the first character of the login shell. The given home directory will be used as the root of a new file system which the user is actually logged into.
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.SH "CAVEATS"
.PP
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This version of
\fB su\fR
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has many compilation options, only some of which may be in use at any particular site.
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.SH "FILES"
.TP
\fI /etc/passwd\fR
user account information
.TP
\fI /etc/shadow\fR
secure user account information
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
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\fB login\fR (1),
\fB login.defs\fR (5),
\fB sh\fR (1),
\fB suauth\fR (5).
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.SH "AUTHOR"
.PP
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Julianne Frances Haugh <jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com>