[net.unix-wizards] quick su with no problems

andrew.umcp-cs@Udel-Relay@sri-unix (09/21/82)

From:     Andrew Scott Beals <andrew.umcp-cs@Udel-Relay>
Date:     16 Sep 82 7:16:01-EDT (Thu)
another thing that you could do is rig su so that if certain
people execute it, it doesn't bother with asking for
a password. (ohboy, are people going to scream)
					- Andy

greg (09/21/82)

Actually, I did that on the V6 system I used to run -- users who were listed
in the "system" group in /etc/group were not asked for passwords.  Furthermore,
since V6 didn't have the "su [name]" format, I implemented it so that
"su command args...." simply executed "command args...." as the superuser
and then returned you to your (presumabally non-privlenged) original mode.
There was also a command "makeme <user> [command args....]" that ran the
command with the UID/GID of <user>; "su" was really "makeme root".

Just adding to the controversy -- we found it very useful.

Greg Noel, NCR     ...ucbvax!sdcsvax!greg