path: root/usr.bin/su/su.1

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.\"	from: @(#)su.1	6.12 (Berkeley) 7/29/91
.\"
.Dd July 29, 1991
.Dt SU 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm su
.Nd substitute user identity
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm su
.Op Fl fKlm
.Op Fl a Ar auth-type
.Op Fl c Ar login-class
.Op Ar login Op Ar "shell arguments"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
requests the Kerberos password for
.Ar login
(or for
.Dq Ar login Ns .root ,
if no login is provided), and 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.
.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.
If
.Nm
is executed by root, no password is requested and a shell
with the appropriate user ID is executed; no additional Kerberos tickets
are obtained.
.Pp
By default, the environment is unmodified with the exception of
.Ev LOGNAME ,
.Ev HOME ,
.Ev SHELL ,
and
.Ev USER .
.Ev HOME
and
.Ev SHELL
are set to the target login's default values.
.Ev LOGNAME
and
.Ev USER
are set to the target login, unless the target login has a user ID of 0
and the
.Fl 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
.Nm su .
.Pp
If not using
.Fl m
and the target login has a user ID of 0 then the
.Ev PATH
variable and umask value
(see 
.Xr umask 2 )
are always set according to the
.Pa /etc/login.conf
file (see
.Xr login.conf 5 ) .
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl a
Specify an authentication type such as
.Dq skey ,
.Dq securid ,
or
.Dq kerberos .
.It Fl c
Specify a login class.
You may only override the default class if you're already root.
.It Fl f
If the invoked shell is
.Xr csh 1 ,
this option prevents it from reading the
.Dq Pa .cshrc
file.
.It Fl K
Do not attempt to use Kerberos to authenticate the user.
.It Fl l
Simulate a full login.
The environment is discarded except for
.Ev HOME ,
.Ev SHELL ,
.Ev PATH ,
.Ev TERM ,
.Ev LOGNAME ,
and
.Ev USER .
.Ev HOME
and
.Ev SHELL
are modified as above.
.Ev LOGNAME
and
.Ev USER
are set to the target login.
.Ev PATH
is set to the value specified by the
.Dq path
entry in
.Xr login.conf 5 .
.Ev TERM
is imported from your current environment.
The invoked shell is the target login's, and
.Nm
will change directory to the target login's home directory.
.It Fl m
Leave the environment unmodified.
The invoked shell is your login shell, and no directory changes are made.
As a security precaution, if the target user's shell is a non-standard
shell (as defined by
.Xr getusershell 3 )
and the caller's real UID is
non-zero,
.Nm
will fail.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fl l
and
.Fl m
options are mutually exclusive; the last one specified
overrides any previous ones.
.Pp
If the optional
.Ar "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
.Fl c
option as understood by most shells.
Note that
.Fl c
usually expects a single argument only; you have to quote it when
passing multiple words.
.Pp
If group 0 (normally
.Dq wheel )
has users listed then only those users can
.Nm
to
.Dq root .
It is not sufficient to change a user's
.Pa /etc/passwd
entry to add them to the
.Dq wheel
group; they must explicitly be listed in
.Pa /etc/group .
If no one is in the
.Dq wheel
group, it is ignored, and anyone who knows the root password is permitted to
.Nm
to
.Dq root .
.Pp
By default (unless the prompt is reset by a startup file) the superuser
prompt is set to
.Dq Sy \&#
to remind one of its awesome power.
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bl -tag -width 5n -compact
.It Li "su bin -c makewhatis"
Runs the command
.Li makewhatis
as user
.Li bin .
You will be asked for bin's password unless your real UID is 0.
.Pp
.It Li "su bin -c 'makewhatis /usr/local/man'"
Same as above, but the target command consists of more than a
single word.
.Pp
.It Li "su -l foo"
Pretend a login for user
.Li foo .
.El
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
.Bl -tag -width LOGNAME
.It Ev HOME
Default home directory of real user ID unless modified as
specified above.
.It Ev LOGNAME
The user ID is always the effective ID (the target user ID) after an
.Nm
unless the user ID is 0 (root).
.It Ev PATH
Default search path of real user ID unless modified as specified above.
.It Ev TERM
Provides terminal type which may be retained for the substituted
user ID.
.It Ev USER
Same as
.Ev LOGNAME .
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr csh 1 ,
.Xr kerberos 1 ,
.Xr kinit 1 ,
.Xr login 1 ,
.Xr sh 1 ,
.Xr skey 1 ,
.Xr setusercontext 3 ,
.Xr group 5 ,
.Xr login.conf 5 ,
.Xr passwd 5 ,
.Xr environ 7 ,
.Xr sudo 8
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
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.