[NTLUG:Discuss] Formatting a floppy with ext3, Smoothwall

[Cameron, Thomas]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Davidson [mailto:gorky at freenet.carleton.ca]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 6:47 AM
> To: NTLUG Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Formatting a floppy with ext3, Smoothwall
> 

> 
> What is the difference between "su" and "su -"?
> 
> > 

>From the su (1) man page:
--------------------------

SU(1)                          FSF                          SU(1)

NAME
       su - run a shell with substitute user and group IDs

SYNOPSIS
       su [OPTION]... [-] [USER [ARG]...]

DESCRIPTION
       Change the effective user id and group id to that of USER.

       -, -l, --login
              make the shell a login shell
<snip>
--------------------------

When you use the - it actually runs the full login process, including sourcing /etc/profile and /root/.bash_profile, among others.  This gives you root's path, sets several environment variables differently, and so on.  I almost never use su without the -.

--
Thomas Cameron, RHCE, CNE, MCSE, MCT
Assistant Vice President
Linux Design and Engineering
Bank of America

The opinions expressed in this message are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, Bank of America.