SU man page on SmartOS

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SU(1M)									SU(1M)

NAME
       su - become superuser or another user

SYNOPSIS
       su [-] [username [arg...]]

DESCRIPTION
       The su command allows one to become another user without logging off or
       to assume a role. The default user name is root (superuser).

       To use su, the  appropriate  password  must  be	supplied  (unless  the
       invoker	is already root). If the password is correct, su creates a new
       shell process that has the real and effective user ID, group  IDs,  and
       supplementary group list set to those of the specified username.	 Addi‐
       tionally, the new shell's project ID is set to the default  project  ID
       of   the	  specified   user.   See   getdefaultproj(3PROJECT),  setpro‐
       ject(3PROJECT). The new shell will be the shell specified in the	 shell
       field of username's password file entry (see passwd(4)). If no shell is
       specified, /usr/bin/sh is used (see sh(1)). If superuser	 privilege  is
       requested  and  the  shell  for	the  superuser cannot be invoked using
       exec(2), /sbin/sh is used as a fallback. To return to  normal  user  ID
       privileges, type an EOF character (CTRL-D) to exit the new shell.

       Any  additional	arguments  given on the command line are passed to the
       new shell.  When using programs such as sh,  an	arg  of	 the  form  -c
       string  executes string using the shell and an arg of -r gives the user
       a restricted shell.

       To create a login environment, the command "su -" does the following:

	   o	  In addition to what is already propagated, the LC* and  LANG
		  environment  variables from the specified user's environment
		  are also propagated.

	   o	  Propagate TZ from the user's environment. If TZ is not found
		  in  the  user's  environment,	 su uses the TZ value from the
		  TIMEZONE parameter found in /etc/default/login.

	   o	  Set MAIL to /var/mail/new_user.

       If the first argument to su is a dash  (-),  the	 environment  will  be
       changed to what would be expected if the user actually logged in as the
       specified user. Otherwise, the environment is passed  along,  with  the
       exception  of  $PATH,   which  is  controlled  by  PATH	and  SUPATH in
       /etc/default/su.

       All attempts to become another user using su are logged in the log file
       /var/adm/sulog (see sulog(4)).

SECURITY
       su  uses pam(3PAM) with the service name su for authentication, account
       management, and credential establishment.

EXAMPLES
       Example 1 Becoming User bin While Retaining  Your  Previously  Exported
       Environment

       To  become  user	 bin while retaining your previously exported environ‐
       ment, execute:

	 example% su bin

       Example 2 Becoming User bin and Changing to bin's Login Environment

       To become user bin but change the environment to what would be expected
       if bin had originally logged in, execute:

	 example% su - bin

       Example 3 Executing command with user bin's Environment and Permissions

       To  execute  command  with the temporary environment and permissions of
       user bin, type:

	 example% su - bin -c "command args"

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       Variables with LD_ prefix are removed for security  reasons.  Thus,  su
       bin will not retain previously exported variables with LD_ prefix while
       becoming user bin.

       If any of the LC_* variables ( LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, LC_TIME,  LC_COL‐
       LATE,  LC_NUMERIC, and LC_MONETARY) (see environ(5)) are not set in the
       environment, the operational behavior  of  su  for  each	 corresponding
       locale  category	 is  determined	 by  the value of the LANG environment
       variable. If LC_ALL is set, its contents are used to override both  the
       LANG  and  the other LC_* variables. If none of the above variables are
       set in the environment, the "C" (U.S. style) locale determines  how  su
       behaves.

       LC_CTYPE
		      Determines  how  su handles characters. When LC_CTYPE is
		      set to a valid value, su can display and handle text and
		      filenames	 containing  valid characters for that locale.
		      su can display and handle Extended Unix Code (EUC) char‐
		      acters  where any individual character can be 1, 2, or 3
		      bytes wide. su can also handle EUC characters of	1,  2,
		      or  more	column widths. In the "C" locale, only charac‐
		      ters from ISO 8859-1 are valid.

       LC_MESSAGES
		      Determines how diagnostic and informative	 messages  are
		      presented.  This	includes the language and style of the
		      messages, and the correct form of affirmative and	 nega‐
		      tive responses. In the "C" locale, the messages are pre‐
		      sented in the default form found in the  program	itself
		      (in most cases, U.S. English).

FILES
       $HOME/.profile
			     user's login commands for sh and ksh

       /etc/passwd
			     system's password file

       /etc/profile
			     system-wide sh and ksh login commands

       /var/adm/sulog
			     log file

       /etc/default/su
			     the default parameters in this file are:

			     SULOG
					If  defined,  all  attempts  to	 su to
					another user are logged in  the	 indi‐
					cated file.

			     CONSOLE
					If defined, all attempts to su to root
					are logged on the console.

			     PATH
					Default path. (/usr/bin:)

			     SUPATH
					Default path for a user invoking su to
					root.  (/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)

			     SYSLOG
					Determines   whether   the  syslog(3C)
					LOG_AUTH facility should  be  used  to
					log  all  su attempts. LOG_NOTICE mes‐
					sages are generated for su's to	 root,
					LOG_INFO  messages  are	 generated for
					su's to other users, and LOG_CRIT mes‐
					sages  are  generated  for  failed  su
					attempts.

       /etc/default/login
			     the default parameters in this file are:

			     TIMEZONE
					 Sets the TZ environment  variable  of
					 the shell.

SEE ALSO
       csh(1),	 env(1),   ksh(1),  login(1),  roles(1),  sh(1),  syslogd(1M),
       exec(2),	 getdefaultproj(3PROJECT),  setproject(3PROJECT),   pam(3PAM),
       pam_authenticate(3PAM),	   pam_acct_mgmt(3PAM),	    pam_setcred(3PAM),
       pam.conf(4),    passwd(4),    profile(4),     sulog(4),	   syslog(3C),
       attributes(5), environ(5)

				 Feb 26, 2004				SU(1M)
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