On Mon, 2019-05-13 at 16:20 -0400, Bee.Lists wrote:
On May 13, 2019, at 2:46 PM, Pete Biggs pete@biggs.org.uk wrote:
First, the ~ which might not apply to root.
Why do you think that? '~' is just shell shorthand for user's home directory.
root quite often isn’t recognized as a proper user. ~/.bash_profile isn’t loaded because it’s not a normal login shell when entering `su`.
If you switch to any other user using 'su', then their .bash_profile isn't loaded (unless you specify that it's a login shell). 'su' doesn't mean "super user" it means "substitute user" - the default happens to be user UID 0.
Second, it’s a “personal” init file, which also might not pertain to root.
root is just as much a user as anyone else, albeit one with special privileges because they are UID 0.
So I can’t assume it’s just another user.
It may not be "just another user", but it *is* a user as much as your login username is a user. You could assign your own username a UID of 0, and it would have the same privileges as 'root', but it would still act as your username. NOTE: doing this is NOT recommended, do not do it, seriously, do NOT do it.
Going from user to root (su) might not initiate a login shell. I’m not clear on this.
Are you logging in? (i.e. typing the username and password at a login prompt.) If not, then it's not a login shell.
Isn’t moving from my own user using su, then prompted for password count as a login?
No. It doesn't. The password prompt is for authentication, not logging in.
man su doesn’t apply to root with regards to the files loaded up upon login.
Could you explain what you mean by that.
P.