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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!news.ci.com.au!brian.telstra.net!news.telstra.net!nsw.news.telstra.net!news.syd.connect.com.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!news.mira.net.au!pumpkin.pangea.ca!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.nacamar.de!fu-berlin.de!cs.tu-berlin.de!uni-duisburg.de!RRZ.Uni-Koeln.DE!news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de!news.chemietechnik.uni-dortmund.de!Uni-Dortmund.DE!Dortmund.Germany.EU. net!interface-business.de!usenet From: j@ida.interface-business.de (J Wunsch) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: su stands for...? Date: 11 Jul 1997 08:26:04 GMT Organization: interface business GmbH, Dresden Lines: 19 Message-ID: <5q4qms$hke@innocence.interface-business.de> References: <33cd113b.43326108@netnews.voicenet.com> Reply-To: joerg_wunsch@interface-business.de (Joerg Wunsch) NNTP-Posting-Host: ida.interface-business.de X-Newsreader: knews 0.9.6 X-Phone: +49-351-31809-14 X-Fax: +49-351-3361187 X-PGP-Fingerprint: DC 47 E6 E4 FF A6 E9 8F 93 21 E0 7D F9 12 D6 4E Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.misc:3681 xxbbell@voicenet.com (Bob) wrote: > Okay, here's a question for those of you who have been around > for a while: what does "su" stand for? We are currently debating > whether it stands for "super-user", "setuid", or "substitute user". This has been debated at large lately in some BSD groups, look for a thread about ``Unix acronyms''. There's no definite answer to it. To summarize, it seems the meaning has simply changed over time, from `superuser' to `substitute user' or `switch user ID'. Systems up to V6 only allowed to assume the root identity using this command, and V7 added the ability to assume an arbitrary user's identity. -- J"org Wunsch Unix support engineer joerg_wunsch@interface-business.de http://www.interface-business.de/~j