Re: Where is old "info su" which had RMS comment ??
On Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 09:49:54PM -0700, Osamu Aoki wrote:
> Does anyone know where is the famous "su" info page by RMS?
>
> I know it is useless with PAM version of "su" but fun to keep as a
> historical record of GNU.
It is in the sh-utils info page.
Why GNU `su' does not support the `wheel' group
===============================================
(This section is by Richard Stallman.)
Sometimes a few of the users try to hold total power over all the
rest. For example, in 1984, a few users at the MIT AI lab decided to
seize power by changing the operator password on the Twenex system and
keeping it secret from everyone else. (I was able to thwart this coup
and give power back to the users by patching the kernel, but I wouldn't
know how to do that in Unix.)
However, occasionally the rulers do tell someone. Under the usual
`su' mechanism, once someone learns the root password who sympathizes
with the ordinary users, he or she can tell the rest. The "wheel
group" feature would make this impossible, and thus cement the power of
the rulers.
I'm on the side of the masses, not that of the rulers. If you are
used to supporting the bosses and sysadmins in whatever they do, you
might find this idea strange at first.
Reply to: