jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) (04/29/91)
In article <1991Apr29.123607.6635@csv.viccol.edu.au>, timcc@csv.viccol.edu.au (Tim Cook) writes: |> Compile mine with -DAUTHORIZED_GROUP='"wheel"', or whatever, if you prefer |> that to "root". (By the way, what does the group name "wheel" mean?) From the Jargon File: wheel: n. 1. A privilege bit that canonically allows the possessor to perform any operation on a timesharing system, such as read or write any file on the system regardless of protections, change or look at any address in the running monitor, crash or reload the system, and kill/create jobs and user accounts. The term was invented on the TENEX operating system, and carried over to TOPS-20, XEROX-IFS and others. 2. A person who posses a wheel bit. "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives." This term entered the UNIX culture from TWENEX in the mid-80s and has been gaining popularity there (esp. at university sites). Privilege bits are sometimes called `wheel bits'. The state of being in a privileged logon is sometimes called `wheel mode'. See also {root}. -- Jonathan Kamens USnail: MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134 Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710