xref: /dragonfly/usr.bin/su/su.1 (revision 3f5e28f4)
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32.\"	@(#)su.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
33.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/su/su.1,v 1.17.2.6 2002/06/21 15:29:18 charnier Exp $
34.\" $DragonFly: src/usr.bin/su/su.1,v 1.6 2007/03/25 11:35:11 swildner Exp $
35.\"
36.Dd April 18, 1994
37.Dt SU 1
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm su
41.Nd substitute user identity
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Op Fl
45.Op Fl Kflm
46.Op Fl c Ar class
47.Op Ar login Op Ar args
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Nm
51utility requests the Kerberos password for
52.Ar login
53(or for
54.Dq Ar login Ns .root ,
55if no login is provided), and switches to
56that user and group ID after obtaining a Kerberos ticket granting ticket.
57A shell is then executed.
58The
59.Nm
60utility will resort to the local password file to find the password for
61.Ar login
62if there is a Kerberos error.
63If
64.Nm
65is executed by root, no password is requested and a shell
66with the appropriate user ID is executed; no additional Kerberos tickets
67are obtained.
68.Pp
69By default, the environment is unmodified with the exception of
70.Ev USER ,
71.Ev HOME ,
72and
73.Ev SHELL .
74.Ev HOME
75and
76.Ev SHELL
77are set to the target login's default values.
78.Ev USER
79is set to the target login, unless the target login has a user ID of 0,
80in which case it is unmodified.
81The invoked shell is the target login's.
82This is the traditional behavior of
83.Nm .
84Resource limits and session priority applicable to the original user's
85login class (See
86.Xr login.conf 5 )
87are also normally retained unless the target login has a user ID of 0.
88.Pp
89The options are as follows:
90.Bl -tag -width Ds
91.It Fl K
92Do not attempt to use Kerberos to authenticate the user.
93.It Fl f
94If the invoked shell is
95.Xr csh 1 ,
96this option prevents it from reading the
97.Dq Pa .cshrc
98file.
99.It Fl l
100Simulate a full login.
101The environment is discarded except for
102.Ev HOME ,
103.Ev SHELL ,
104.Ev PATH ,
105.Ev TERM ,
106and
107.Ev USER .
108.Ev HOME
109and
110.Ev SHELL
111are modified as above.
112.Ev USER
113is set to the target login.
114.Ev PATH
115is set to
116.Dq Pa /bin:/usr/bin .
117.Ev TERM
118is imported from your current environment.
119Environment variables may be set or overridden from the login class
120capabilities database according to the class of the target login.
121The invoked shell is the target login's, and
122.Nm
123will change directory to the target login's home directory.
124Resource limits and session priority are modified to that for the
125target account's login class.
126.It Fl
127(no letter) The same as
128.Fl l .
129.It Fl m
130Leave the environment unmodified.
131The invoked shell is your login shell, and no directory changes are made.
132As a security precaution, if the target user's shell is a non-standard
133shell (as defined by
134.Xr getusershell 3 )
135and the caller's real uid is
136non-zero,
137.Nm
138will fail.
139.It Fl c Ar class
140Use the settings of the specified login class.
141Only allowed for the super-user.
142.El
143.Pp
144The
145.Fl l
146(or
147.Fl )
148and
149.Fl m
150options are mutually exclusive; the last one specified
151overrides any previous ones.
152.Pp
153If the optional
154.Ar args
155are provided on the command line, they are passed to the login shell of
156the target login.
157.Pp
158Only users who are a member of group 0 (normally
159.Dq wheel )
160can
161.Nm
162to
163.Dq root .
164\ If group 0 is missing or empty, any user can
165.Nm
166to
167.Dq root .
168.Pp
169By default (unless the prompt is reset by a startup file) the super-user
170prompt is set to
171.Dq Sy \&#
172to remind one of its awesome power.
173.Sh ENVIRONMENT
174Environment variables used by
175.Nm :
176.Bl -tag -width HOME
177.It Ev HOME
178Default home directory of real user ID unless modified as
179specified above.
180.It Ev PATH
181Default search path of real user ID unless modified as specified above.
182.It Ev TERM
183Provides terminal type which may be retained for the substituted
184user ID.
185.It Ev USER
186The user ID is always the effective ID (the target user ID) after an
187.Nm
188unless the user ID is 0 (root).
189.El
190.Sh FILES
191.Bl -tag -width /etc/auth.conf -compact
192.It Pa /etc/auth.conf
193configure authentication services
194.El
195.Sh EXAMPLES
196.Bl -tag -width 5n -compact
197.It Li "su man -c catman"
198Runs the command
199.Li catman
200as user
201.Li man ,
202assuming man's shell supports the
203.Fl c
204option.
205You will be asked for man's password unless your real UID is 0.
206.It Li "su -m man -c catman"
207Same as above, but use the shell and environment of the current
208user instead of those of man.
209This allows commands to be executed as user man even when man's shell is
210.Xr nologin 8 .
211.It Li "su -mf man -c catman"
212Same as above, but do not re-evaluate the current user's
213.Pa .cshrc
214either.
215.It Li "su -mf man -c 'catman /usr/share/man /usr/local/man /usr/pkg/xorg/man'"
216Same as above, but the target command consists of more than a
217single word and hence is quoted for use with the
218.Fl c
219option being passed to the shell.  (Most shells expect the argument to
220.Fl c
221to be a single word).
222.It Li "su -mf -c staff man -c 'catman /usr/share/man /usr/local/man /usr/pkg/xorg/man'"
223Same as above, but the target command is run with the resource limits of
224the login class
225.Dq staff .
226Note: in this example, the first
227.Fl c
228option applies to
229.Nm
230while the second is an argument to the shell being invoked.
231.It Li "su -l foo"
232Simulate a login for user foo.
233.It Li "su - foo"
234Same as above.
235.It Li "su -  "
236Simulate a login for root.
237.El
238.Sh SEE ALSO
239.Xr csh 1 ,
240.Xr kinit 1 ,
241.Xr login 1 ,
242.Xr sh 1 ,
243.Xr group 5 ,
244.Xr login.conf 5 ,
245.Xr passwd 5 ,
246.Xr environ 7 ,
247.Xr kerberos 8 ,
248.Xr nologin 8
249.Sh HISTORY
250A
251.Nm
252command appeared in
253.At v1 .
254