help with commands

[demonjinn]

Well guys what i would like to do is change identity while im logged on so i was wondering what the cmd was, the other thing was how do i message other people on the server?

thanks

[Red Lotus]

The commmand is "su" (substitute user). Just typing su will temporarily give you root, or superuser abilities. You will then be able to access /root, damage your system ( :)), etc. When you are done operating as root, use the "exit" command to return to your normal status.

You would probably use this command to become a user other than root as well, but I'm not sure what the syntax for it is. Maybe "su otheruser" or something, but I can't really try it out now because I only have one normal user account and I'm too lazy to create another :D. Read a man or info page on su for more info.

[ 19 August 2001: Message edited by: Red Lotus ]

[inktoast]

i thought that the command "su" ment "super user"

[error27]

i thought su was "switch user"

to talk with other people logged in use "talk username"

or you can even talk to people on other computers with talk user@hostname.com but normally people block that feature for security reasons...

[Malakin]

su means either "switch user" or "substitute user"

"su username" is how it works.

talk usually doesn't work by default, but you can do "w" to see who's on, then say someone was logged in with the name bob, you can do a "ps aux | grep bob" to see what terminals he's got open. Then you can do a "echo "you suck bob" > /dev/pts/2" and it will suddenly appear on his terminal :)

[demonjinn]

tried su didnt work are there any others?

Thanks

[Ace69]

If you do a # su username, it will then prompt you for a password.

[trekker]

Do you have another normal user on your system? If no, then you have to create another user account before you can swith to another user.

If yes, you can switch to another user by typing at the command line "su <other_normal_user_username>" and you should get a prompt for a password. Enter the password for this other normal user and you should be logged in as the other user.

Typing "su" alone at the commane line will attempt to log you in as the superuser.

Hope this is clear enough for you. :)

[demonjinn]

as per usual guys your were all spot on
thanks alot