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-rw-r--r--usr.bin/su/su.125
1 files changed, 16 insertions, 9 deletions
diff --git a/usr.bin/su/su.1 b/usr.bin/su/su.1
index e01adf25f0b..a96d8ee76c3 100644
--- a/usr.bin/su/su.1
+++ b/usr.bin/su/su.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\" $OpenBSD: su.1,v 1.26 2010/12/09 22:34:04 sobrado Exp $
+.\" $OpenBSD: su.1,v 1.27 2010/12/10 19:29:52 millert Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1988, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
.\"
.\" from: @(#)su.1 6.12 (Berkeley) 7/29/91
.\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: December 9 2010 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: December 10 2010 $
.Dt SU 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
@@ -45,21 +45,27 @@
.Op Ar login Op Ar "shell arguments"
.Ek
.Sh DESCRIPTION
+The
.Nm
-requests the Kerberos password for
+utility allows a user to run a shell with the user and group ID of another user
+without having to log out and in as that other user.
+.Pp
+If Kerberos is in use, the password for
.Ar login
(or for
.Dq Ar login Ns .root ,
-if no login is provided), and switches to
+if no login is provided) is requested, and
+.Nm
+switches to
that user and group ID after obtaining a Kerberos ticket granting access.
A shell is then executed, and any additional
.Ar "shell arguments"
after the login name
are passed to the shell.
+If Kerberos is not configured or if there is a Kerberos error,
.Nm
-will resort to the local password file to find the password for
-.Ar login
-if there is a Kerberos error or if Kerberos is not installed.
+falls back to local password authentication to validate the password for
+.Ar login .
If
.Nm
is executed by root, no password is requested and a shell
@@ -123,6 +129,9 @@ this option prevents it from reading the
file.
.It Fl K
Do not attempt to use Kerberos to authenticate the user.
+This is shorthand for
+.Dq Nm Fl a Ar passwd ,
+provided for backwards compatibility.
.It Fl L
Loop until a correct username and password combination is entered,
similar to
@@ -290,6 +299,4 @@ A
command appeared in
.At v7 .
.Sh BUGS
-There is no direct way to force a particular shell to be used.
-.Pp
The login name is not optional for root if there are shell arguments.