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From: Linda Walsh <lkml@tlinx.org>
To: util-linux@vger.kernel.org
Subject: regression bug: user loses DISPLAY & REMOTEHOST with  'su -p - username"
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:12:56 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <52B0DA78.8060109@tlinx.org> (raw)


"su --preserve_environment - username" no longer preserves
your REMOTEHOST and DISPLAY values.  They should be
in the same class as 'TERM', as they are passed from the
pre-login environment.

I don't know if there are other values that shouldn't be
removed -- but it is bad to clear the environment just
because one wants a shell called with '-<shell>'.

The preserve environment flag is NOT incompatible with login.
It means don't clear the env, but do call login via -<shell>.

-p means don't clear the ENV -- but do call the user's shell
with a '-' in front of it.  That has always been the functionality
of 'su'.

If you want to make 'su' fancier, maybe it needs a "/etc/suers.conf"
file so specific values can be easily changed to reflect
site policy rather than hard coding them.








             reply	other threads:[~2013-12-17 23:38 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2013-12-17 23:12 Linda Walsh [this message]
2013-12-18 10:54 ` regression bug: user loses DISPLAY & REMOTEHOST with 'su -p - username" Karel Zak
2013-12-18 20:05   ` Linda Walsh

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