Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!rbutterworth
From: rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth)
Newsgroups: uw.mfcf.bugs
Subject: Re: why do we have 'suw'?
Message-ID: <28550@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: 22 Aug 89 18:13:48 GMT
References: <28546@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 25

In article <28546@watmath.waterloo.edu>, gamiddleton@watmath.waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) writes:
> Whose idea was this?  I don't like having to use two different programs for
> doing the same thing.  Either 'su' should let me become root, or 'suw' should
> let me become another user.

The super-users file and such things were a local invention.
We added them to su.
They also required changes to libc (changing a static to a global).

That was fine when all we had was BSD VAXs,
but we now have to support architectures where we can't change
libc and where we don't have source.

The solution is to leave the stock su alone
for those that want to change to a different userid
using the stock password mechanism from /etc/passwd,
and to write a different command that only implements the
things we need to become root.

Thus suw doesn't do nearly as much as su (i.e. the only things
 you can do is change your password or become root),
but it is a lot easier to port to a lot of different systems.

If you don't think so, try getting /etc/super-users to work
on the irises.