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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!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-feed4.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!netapp.com!netapp.com!not-for-mail From: guy@netapp.com (Guy Harris) 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? Followup-To: comp.unix.misc Date: 24 May 1997 17:08:58 -0700 Organization: Network Appliance Lines: 28 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <5m7vuq$prj@tooting.netapp.com> References: <5kd2ng$c8b$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de> <Pine.LNX.3.95.970515180937.229A-100000@itclub.mur.csu.edu.au> <1997May16.090215.8470@lorelei.approve.se> <5m4at9$65o@web-pgs.hstn.tensor.pgs.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: tooting.netapp.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45399 comp.os.linux.misc:176828 comp.os.linux.x:62424 alt.os.linux:21529 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3406 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:41564 gnu.misc.discuss:31477 comp.unix.solaris:107510 (Followups to "comp.unix.misc"; this is a pretty damn miscellaneous discussion at this point - there's no "comp.unix.trivia" group, alas....) Kevin Hudson <kevinh@hstn.tensor.pgs.*NOSPAM*.com> wrote: >this implies that su = Super User ...in System V. >AT&T invented UNIX ...and had more than one flavor of it. All their flavors may ultimately have derived from Research UNIX, and, from another posting (with Message-ID <5m6k1g$2v2@uriah.heep.sax.de>), it appears that the Seventh Edition of the manual for Research UNIX said: NAME su - substitute user id temporarily >QED: The official definition of su is Super User It was what was to be demonstrated, but it hasn't yet been demonstrated.... Maybe V6 called it "super-user", if it only let you become "root" (as I remember was the case, but that was over 20 years ago...), but, as V7's let you become users *other* than the super-user, "super user" wouldn't have been the best expansion of "su".