xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/su/su.1 (revision 3ff369fed2a08f32dda232c10470b949bef9489f)
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32.\"	@(#)su.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd April 18, 1994
36.Dt SU 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm su
40.Nd substitute user identity
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl
44.Op Fl flm
45.Op Fl c Ar class
46.Op Ar login Op Ar args
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Nm
50utility requests appropriate user credentials via PAM
51and switches to that user ID
52(the default user is the superuser).
53A shell is then executed.
54.Pp
55PAM is used to set all policy.
56.Pp
57By default, the environment is unmodified with the exception of
58.Ev USER ,
59.Ev HOME ,
60and
61.Ev SHELL .
62.Ev HOME
63and
64.Ev SHELL
65are set to the target login's default values.
66.Ev USER
67is set to the target login, unless the target login has a user ID of 0,
68in which case it is unmodified.
69The invoked shell is the one belonging to the target login.
70This is the traditional behavior of
71.Nm .
72Resource limits and session priority applicable to the original user's
73login class (See
74.Xr login.conf 5 )
75are also normally retained unless the target login has a user ID of 0.
76.Pp
77The options are as follows:
78.Bl -tag -width Ds
79.It Fl f
80If the invoked shell is
81.Xr csh 1 ,
82this option prevents it from reading the
83.Dq Pa .cshrc
84file.
85.It Fl l
86Simulate a full login.
87The environment is discarded except for
88.Ev HOME ,
89.Ev SHELL ,
90.Ev PATH ,
91.Ev TERM ,
92and
93.Ev USER .
94.Ev HOME
95and
96.Ev SHELL
97are modified as above.
98.Ev USER
99is set to the target login.
100.Ev PATH
101is set to
102.Dq Pa /bin:/usr/bin .
103.Ev TERM
104is imported from your current environment.
105Environment variables may be set or overridden from the login class
106capabilities database according to the class of the target login.
107The invoked shell is the target login's, and
108.Nm
109will change directory to the target login's home directory.
110Resource limits and session priority are modified to that for the
111target account's login class.
112.It Fl
113(no letter) The same as
114.Fl l .
115.It Fl m
116Leave the environment unmodified.
117The invoked shell is your login shell, and no directory changes are made.
118As a security precaution, if the target user's shell is a non-standard
119shell (as defined by
120.Xr getusershell 3 )
121and the caller's real uid is
122non-zero,
123.Nm
124will fail.
125.It Fl c Ar class
126Use the settings of the specified login class.
127Only allowed for the super-user.
128.El
129.Pp
130The
131.Fl l
132(or
133.Fl )
134and
135.Fl m
136options are mutually exclusive; the last one specified
137overrides any previous ones.
138.Pp
139If the optional
140.Ar args
141are provided on the command line, they are passed to the login shell of
142the target login.
143.Pp
144By default (unless the prompt is reset by a startup file) the super-user
145prompt is set to
146.Dq Sy \&#
147to remind one of its awesome power.
148.Sh FILES
149.Bl -tag -width /etc/pam.conf -compact
150.It Pa /etc/pam.conf
151.Nm
152is configured with PAM support; it uses
153.Pa /etc/pam.conf
154entries with service name
155.Dq su
156.El
157.Sh SEE ALSO
158.Xr csh 1 ,
159.Xr sh 1 ,
160.Xr group 5 ,
161.Xr login.conf 5 ,
162.Xr passwd 5 ,
163.Xr environ 7 ,
164.Xr pam 8
165.Sh ENVIRONMENT
166Environment variables used by
167.Nm :
168.Bl -tag -width HOME
169.It Ev HOME
170Default home directory of real user ID unless modified as
171specified above.
172.It Ev PATH
173Default search path of real user ID unless modified as specified above.
174.It Ev TERM
175Provides terminal type which may be retained for the substituted
176user ID.
177.It Ev USER
178The user ID is always the effective ID (the target user ID) after an
179.Nm
180unless the user ID is 0 (root).
181.El
182.Sh EXAMPLES
183.Bl -tag -width 5n -compact
184.It Li "su man -c catman"
185Runs the command
186.Li catman
187as user
188.Li man .
189You will be asked for man's password unless your real UID is 0.
190.It Li "su man -c 'catman /usr/share/man /usr/local/man /usr/X11R6/man'"
191Same as above, but the target command consists of more than a
192single word and hence is quoted for use with the
193.Fl c
194option being passed to the shell.  (Most shells expect the argument to
195.Fl c
196to be a single word).
197.It Li "su -c staff man -c 'catman /usr/share/man /usr/local/man /usr/X11R6/man'"
198Same as above, but the target command is run with the resource limits of
199the login class
200.Dq staff .
201Note: in this example, the first
202.Fl c
203option applies to
204.Nm
205while the second is an argument to the shell being invoked.
206.It Li "su -l foo"
207Simulate a login for user foo.
208.It Li "su - foo"
209Same as above.
210.It Li "su -  "
211Simulate a login for root.
212.El
213.Sh HISTORY
214A
215.Nm
216command appeared in
217.At v1 .
218