edh@ux.acs.umn.edu (Eric D. Hendrickson) (01/04/91)
I have two accounts on this machine, and when I "su" from one to the other, to read mail with elm, elm thinks I am the user I logged in as, not the user I su'd to. I suspect this is because of a getlogin() somewhere. Can this be changed, and if not, why not? It would be most convenient. Thanks! Eric Hendrickson -- /----------"Oh carrots are divine, you get a dozen for dime, its maaaagic."-- |Eric (the "Mentat-Philosopher") Hendrickson Academic Computing Services |edh@ux.acs.umn.edu The game is afoot! University of Minnesota \-"What does 'masochist' and 'amnesia' mean? Beats me, I don't remember."--
syd@DSI.COM (Syd Weinstein) (01/04/91)
In article <2984@ux.acs.umn.edu> edh@ux.acs.umn.edu (Eric D. Hendrickson) writes: >I have two accounts on this machine, and when I "su" from one to the other, >to read mail with elm, elm thinks I am the user I logged in as, not the >user I su'd to. I suspect this is because of a getlogin() somewhere. Can >this be changed, and if not, why not? It would be most convenient. Elm and su have gone through a long evolution to the current state. Its not a bug that Elm and su behave the way they do, its on purpose. However, it does make sense (somewhat) that they behave as they do. If you su to a user id, you are becoming your self with the uid of that user. Your environment is not changed to match theirs, thus you have your HOME directory, etc. Its not like logging in as that user. Thus if you just su, Elm follows the environment and says, oh, your really user a. If you "su -" to that user, and become them complete with environment, then Elm things you are that new user. Now the elmrc and alias files match that user, and all is well. If all you want to do is access that users spool while su'd, try elm -f. -- ===================================================================== Sydney S. Weinstein, CDP, CCP Elm Coordinator Datacomp Systems, Inc. Voice: (215) 947-9900 syd@DSI.COM or dsinc!syd FAX: (215) 938-0235
andrew@stl.stc.co.uk (Andrew Macpherson) (01/04/91)
Elm when `su'd "su - user" tends to work better, so does making sure that $MAIL $HOME are both set for the su'd user. -- Andrew.Macpherson@stl.stc.co.uk -- PSI%234237100122::Andrew.Macpherson "There is nothing quite so worthwhile as simply messing about in boats"
rudolf@curano.acadch.com (Rudolf Kuenzli) (01/04/91)
edh@ux.acs.umn.edu (Eric D. Hendrickson) writes: >I have two accounts on this machine, and when I "su" from one to the other, >to read mail with elm, elm thinks I am the user I logged in as, not the >user I su'd to. I suspect this is because of a getlogin() somewhere. Can >this be changed, and if not, why not? It would be most convenient. I don't think that this is necessary. If you can 'su' to that user you may with the same speed 'login' to that user as well... -- Don Curano The Magician In real life: Rudolf Kuenzli uucp: ...uunet!autodesk!adeskch!rudolf Internet: rudolf@curano.acadch.com ...chx400!adeskch!rudolf rudolf@adeskch.uu.ch