-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On Sun, Jan 12, 2003 at 07:55:11PM +0100, Michael Schwendt wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 18:25:47 +0100, Ricardo Carrillo Cruz wrote:
>
> > When I login in my machine with a normal user,the normal
> > user's path is correct,i mean,it hasn`t access to /sbin
> > /usr/sbin neither.The problem is that when i open a console, i
> > turn myself root with su,the root user inherits the same path
> > that the normal user has.¿Why? I' ve tried to put the correct
> > path into the .bash_profile of root,but still doesn`t work.
>
> Don't switch to user root, *log in* as root. Use either of
> these:
>
> $ su --login
> $ su -l
> $ su -
This is one possible solution, depending on what the user wants to do.
However, it is often undesireable, for a variety of reasons. For
example, if you do this in an xterm, and then try to run X
applications, you'll generally have difficulty. You can solve that
either by not using the '-' (or any equivalent) to su, or you can muck
with X authentication to get around it. The latter method is a bit
complicated, and probably more time-consuming than is worth putting up
with. Solutions using the former (not using '-') are probably a lot
easier to deal with.
Another reason it's often undesireable is that root's environment
tends to be substantially different from the user's normal
environment, and may present them with a very different experience
than their normal environment. This can happen because:
- users spend much less time as root, and don't customize root's
environment nearly as much as their own
- there are multiple root users, and no one can agree on how root's
environment should be configured
The easiest way around this is to simply add /sbin and /usr/sbin to
the (non-root) user's PATH. There's nothing particularly detrimental
to doing so, and some commands located in those paths are occasionally
useful for non-root users, as well. This is the solution that I
personally favor.
Another solution, if you really want to have different environments
for your root and non-root user, is to create another file, say
root_env, which contains shell commands and variables one wants to use
when su-ing to root. After running su, you'd simply execute the
following command:
# . root_env
Or, you could combine this with the su command like so:
$ su root -c "bash --init-file /path/to/root_env"
[Me memory vaguely hints that some versions of su may fail when given
the -c option, if the user to which to switch is not also specified.
However, me memory may be on crack... The version shipping with RH8
has no problem with this.]
Note also that using "su -" is still not quite the same as logging in
as root... It does not, for example, set up your X environment if
you're already logged into an X session as a regular user. If the X
session is properly set up to use authentication (as is generally the
case on Linux systems these days), you won't be able to run apps as
root this way. Other things may or may not work as expected,
depending on how much environment-dependent custom applications you
use in your environment.
Another possible solution, depending on how you have things set up, is
to ssh to localhost as root. This may take care of the X issues, if
ssh is set up properly to deal with that (and allows root to log in).
- --
Derek D. Martin
http://www.pizzashack.org/
GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQE+IdpSHEnASN++rQIRAilTAKCAk32KUa3tSTV/Q8picP08h6yiIgCgwNag
HFIbjWY7BlSSwoXoHb/ofGY=
=GFJd
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--
Psyche-list mailing list
Psyche-list@redhat.com
https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/psyche-list
