https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=682726 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=682726#c0 Summary: Reference suggests only "su" instead of "su -"/su -l/su --login "make the shell a login shell" Classification: openSUSE Product: openSUSE 11.4 Version: Final Platform: Other OS/Version: Other Status: NEW Severity: Major Priority: P5 - None Component: Documentation AssignedTo: ke@novell.com ReportedBy: Martin.Seidler@web.de QAContact: ke@novell.com Found By: --- Blocker: --- User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:2.0.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0 The manual "Referece" describes only to get superuser privileges without really becoming root (without using a login shell or an equivalent). So the user will get root rights without using the environment of the user root. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Open the documentation/Manual "Reference" http://doc.opensuse.org/products/opensuse/openSUSE/opensuse-reference 2. Go to Reference > Chapter 21. Shell Basics > 21.4. Becoming Root > 21.4.1. Using su http://doc.opensuse.org/products/opensuse/openSUSE/opensuse-reference/cha.ne... 3. Read Actual Results: "su" The procedure of getting superuser privileges but not logging in as superuser actual is described: [CITE] 21.4.1. Using su¶ In order to temporarily become root in a shell, proceed as follows: 1. Enter su. You are prompted for the root password. 2. Enter the password. If you mistyped the root password, the shell displays a message. In this case, you have to re-enter su before retyping the password. If your password is correct, a hash symbol # appears at the end of the prompt, signaling that you are acting as root now. [...] [/CITE] Expected Results: "su -"="su -l"="su -login" should be described. The procedure of getting superuser privileges and simultaneous logging in as root with root's enviorment should be described. In addition a warning before using only "su" might be appropriate. See also: Vincent Untz Re: [opensuse-factory] Trouble starting yast2 from terminal Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:47:34 +0100 Message-id: <20110310094734.GC27272@vuntz.net> http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2011-03/msg00298.html [CITE] Use "su -", not "su". I'm actively wondering if there's any reason to keep the "su" default behavior around. It just keeps harming us again and again. [/CITE] Guido Berhörster Bug 655751 - gdbus aborting due to unauthorized socket in DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS Comment 10 of that thread 2011-03-17 18:51:17 UTC [CITE](In reply to comment #9)

You are right. I wasn't using "-" before. I tested it and it worked. While I k now that is the standard way of doing things, previous versions of Suse didn't require it--made me lazy I guess.

You shouldn't do that, GNU coreutils su has in contrast to other implementations like Solaris su no security precautions at all and if you don't request a login shell, $PATH and any $LD_* variables are happily passed along. But this is getting offtopic, this bug is about glib not handling an invalid $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS gracefully. [/CITE] SDB:Login as root # A longer terminal session as root http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Login_as_root#A_longer_terminal_session_as_root http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_%28Unix%29#Usage [CITE][...]It should generally be used with a hyphen by administrators (su -, which is identical to su - root), which can be used to start a login shell. This way users can assume the user environment of the target user:[..] [/CITE] Because of that I presume the Serverity Major is appropriate. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.