Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!hubcap!gatech!bbn!gateway!ux.rfhsm.lon.ac.UK!and From: and@ux.rfhsm.lon.ac.UK (Andy Holyer) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Suggestion: An su mode for Emacs??? Message-ID: <8812161518.AA20708@uk.ac.lon.rfhsm.ux> Date: 16 Dec 88 15:18:43 GMT Sender: news@bbn.COM Organization: BBN news/mail gateway Lines: 35 Dear Net-things, I've just thought of a possible extra command for emacs: I often find, right in the middle of an emacs session, that I need to do something in SuperUser mode. Is it possible to have a command (su-emacs, say) which asks for the su password, and from then on acts as if it was run by root? I'ts a pain in the middle of a make to have to halt emacs, run su, chmod a file (or some such) go out of su, and then re-run emacs again. Initial thoughts: I appreciate that this could be a security risk, but then so's su itself, and with good programming it should be fairly secure (And we're big boys now who know how to program good :-)). I have a feeling that emacs would have to be running suid root....? Any Comments? I'm willing to put in the work, but collaborators would be welcome. Flames, suggestions, thoughts etc. to the usual.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | && | | | & & | &ndy Holyer | | & & | Snail: Dept. of Medical Informatics & Computing, | | && | Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, | | & & & | Rowland Hill St. | | & & & | London NW3 2PF | | & & | England | | & & & | JANET: and@uk.ac.lon.rfhsm.ux | | & & & | Voice: (+44) 1 794 8673 | | &&& & | | |----------------+-----------------------------------------------------------| |"Handy Hint: Re-use old telephone directories as a handy address | | book; simply cross out the names of everybody you don't know." | | - Viz Comic | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #include