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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!206.139.252.5!newsreader.com!not-for-mail From: curt@kcwc.com (Curt Welch) Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list? Date: 18 May 1997 21:57:43 GMT Organization: KCW Consulting Lines: 17 Message-ID: <hbO7$x8@NewsReader.Com> References: <5kd2ng$c8b$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de><5l3c2f$i1j@pasilla.bbnplanet.com> <337A003F.6A7B@ncofsi.com><3378D37F.462F3A47@gaijin.com> <x6iv0l7uxw.fsf@ez.bts.com> <Pine.LNX.3.95.970516130933.5082E-100000@itclub.mur.csu.edu.au> <Pine.OSF.3.95.970518125907.7181A-100000@email.uah.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: h4.kcwc.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45194 comp.os.linux.misc:176077 comp.os.linux.x:61976 alt.os.linux:21395 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3334 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:41231 gnu.misc.discuss:31382 comp.unix.solaris:106905 Scooter <brownrc@email.uah.edu> wrote: > In the couple of books on Linux and Unix that i have read, they have > refered to su as the Shell User command. It makes sense since the command > basically opens a shell under another UID. Stop this! su stands for Super User. Period. No matter how much the other names seem to make sense, they are wrong. The old version of su was only used to allow someone to become root (i.e. super user). It didn't have the option to switch to other arbitray users. That's why it was called su. Curt Welch http://CurtWelch.Com/