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SU(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual SU(1) NAME su - substitute user identity SYNOPSIS su [-fKlm] [-a auth-type] [-c login-class] [login [shell arguments]] DESCRIPTION su requests the Kerberos password for login (or for ``login.root'', if no login is provided), and switches to that user and group ID after obtain- ing a Kerberos ticket granting access. A shell is then executed, and any additional shell arguments after the login name are passed to the shell. su will resort to the local password file to find the password for login if there is a Kerberos error or if Kerberos is not installed. If su is executed by root, no password is requested and a shell with the appropri- ate user ID is executed; no additional Kerberos tickets are obtained. By default, the environment is unmodified with the exception of LOGNAME, HOME, SHELL, and USER. HOME and SHELL are set to the target login's de- fault values. LOGNAME and USER are set to the target login, unless the target login has a user ID of 0 and the -l flag was not specified, in which case it is unmodified. The invoked shell is the target login's. This is the traditional behavior of su. If not using -m and the target login has a user ID of 0 then the PATH variable and umask value (see umask(2)) are always set according to the /etc/login.conf file (see login.conf(5)). The options are as follows: - Same as the -l option (deprecated). -a Specify an authentication type such as ``skey'', ``securid'', or ``krb4''. -c Specify a login class. You may only override the default class if you're already root. -f If the invoked shell is csh(1), this option prevents it from reading the ``.cshrc'' file. -K Do not attempt to use Kerberos to authenticate the user. -l Simulate a full login. The environment is discarded except for HOME, SHELL, PATH, TERM, LOGNAME, and USER. HOME and SHELL are modified as above. LOGNAME and USER are set to the target login. PATH is set to the value specified by the ``path'' entry in login.conf(5). TERM is imported from your current environment. The invoked shell is the target login's, and su will change di- rectory to the target login's home directory. -m Leave the environment unmodified. The invoked shell is your lo- gin shell, and no directory changes are made. As a security pre- caution, if the target user's shell is a non-standard shell (as defined by getusershell(3)) and the caller's real UID is non-ze- ro, su will fail. The -l and -m options are mutually exclusive; the last one specified overrides any previous ones. If the optional shell arguments are provided on the command line, they are passed to the login shell of the target login. This allows it to pass arbitrary commands via the -c option as understood by most shells. Note that -c usually expects a single argument only; you have to quote it when passing multiple words. If group 0 (normally ``wheel'') has users listed then only those users can su to ``root''. It is not sufficient to change a user's /etc/passwd entry to add them to the ``wheel'' group; they must explicitly be listed in /etc/group. If no one is in the ``wheel'' group, it is ignored, and anyone who knows the root password is permitted to su to ``root''. By default (unless the prompt is reset by a startup file) the superuser prompt is set to ``#'' to remind one of its awesome power. EXAMPLES su bin -c makewhatis Runs the command makewhatis as user bin. You will be asked for bin's password unless your real UID is 0. su bin -c 'makewhatis /usr/local/man' Same as above, but the target command consists of more than a sin- gle word. su -l foo Pretend a login for user foo. su -a skey -l foo Same as above, but use S/Key for authentication. ENVIRONMENT HOME Default home directory of real user ID unless modified as speci- fied above. LOGNAME The user ID is always the effective ID (the target user ID) af- ter an su unless the user ID is 0 (root). PATH Default search path of real user ID unless modified as specified above. TERM Provides terminal type which may be retained for the substituted user ID. USER Same as LOGNAME. SEE ALSO csh(1), kerberos(1), kinit(1), login(1), sh(1), skey(1), setusercontext(3), group(5), login.conf(5), passwd(5), environ(7), su- do(8) HISTORY A su command appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX. BUGS There is no direct way to force a particular shell to be used. The login name is not optional for root if there are shell arguments. OpenBSD 3.1 July 29, 1991 2
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLES | ENVIRONMENT | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | BUGS
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