Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site umcp-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!chris From: chris@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: Strange behavior of su Message-ID: <1658@umcp-cs.UUCP> Date: Sat, 21-Sep-85 20:35:16 EDT Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1658 Posted: Sat Sep 21 20:35:16 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 23-Sep-85 02:55:19 EDT References: <314@aphasia.UUCP> <323@uwvax.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD Lines: 18 > You didn't say to whom you were su'ing. ... If you were becoming > another normal user, this probably means the current directory was > inaccesable to the new user. In this case, su gives up quietly. 'Tis not su, 'tis csh, the vile wretched beast. One of the first things it does is figure out its current directory; if it cannot, it exits. Gosling Emacs also used to have this cretinous behaviour. I changed it to attempt a getwd, and if that failed, to try first a chdir($HOME) and finally a chdir(/), warning you along the way that it was unable to figure out where you were and so (rather than quit or come up confused) put you elsewhere. This is perhaps not much better, but *some* solution was necessary. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 4251) UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!chris CSNet: chris@umcp-cs ARPA: chris@maryland Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com