Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 (MC830713); site vu44.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!mcvax!vu44!jack From: jack@vu44.UUCP (Jack Jansen) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.bugs.usg Subject: Re: Why does the S5 init run "/bin/su" instead of "/bin/sh" single-user? Message-ID: <345@vu44.UUCP> Date: Mon, 2-Jul-84 04:20:22 EDT Article-I.D.: vu44.345 Posted: Mon Jul 2 04:20:22 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 26-Jun-84 06:30:04 EDT References: <2045@rlgvax.UUCP> Organization: VU Informatica, Amsterdam Lines: 10 I guess that they did it for security reasons. If you run "su" in stead of "sh", you don't have to lock your machine room if you want to make sure that no-one can log in as superuser. I did something like this, with one exception : If "su" cannot find the password file it returns a funny exit status, and if "init" gets this funny return, it will still start "sh". This way, you get your security, but you can still boot if the passwordfile is corrupted. Jack Jansen, {philabs|decvax}!mcvax!vu44!jack