g wrote: > Patrick O'Callaghan wrote: > >> The original meaning of 'su' is 'superuser'. You can find it in Unix >> manuals from the 1970s. 'Substitute user' is a lame back-formation from >> when the command was extended to allow changing effective id's to any >> user and not just root. > > i am not in disagreement with this as i used *unix* in it's early form. my early unix > manuals are buried too deep to get to, so i can not quote from them or find when > change came about. > > but this is not *unix*, we are discussing *linux*. in *linux*, the command 'su' is > 'substitute user or group'. > > in *linux*, 'su' gives a user who knows 'root' password, ability to become _any_user_ > or a member of _any_group_. therefore, i again say, command 'su' is not 'super user'. > > so if i give command 'su poc' or 'su paul', i do not become a 'superuser'. i simply > become user 'poc' or user 'paul'. > >> DOS systems have no concept of user privilege, and hence have no concept >> of superuser. Windows systems do have user privileges but AFAIK they >> don't use the superuser terminology. > > *msdos* systems and *ms windows* have very little concept of anything. > > My Version 7 Unix manual (i.e. 7th edition Unix, 1979) says: su - substitute user id temporarily My 4.3 BSD user manual says the same thing. My 9th edition unix manual says: su, setlog - substitute userid temporarily, become super user And on Fedora 10, the manual says: su - run a shell with substitute user and group IDs In all cases, the user name is an optional argument and defaults to "root" (i.e. the super user). -- Sjoerd Mullender
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature
-- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
