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RUNUSER(1)                       User Commands                      RUNUSER(1)

NAME
       runuser - run a command with substitute user and group ID
SYNOPSIS
       runuser [options] -u user command [argument...]
       runuser [options] [-] [ user [argument...]  ]
DESCRIPTION
       runuser  allows  to run commands with substitute user and group ID.  If
       the option -u not given, fallback to su compatible semantic  and  shell
       is  executed.   The  difference  between the commands runuser and su is
       that runuser does not ask for password (because it may be  executed  by
       root user only) and it uses a different PAM configuration.  The command
       runuser does not have to be installed with suid permissions.
       When called without arguments runuser defaults to running  an  interac-
       tive shell as root.
       For  backward  compatibility runuser defaults to not change the current
       directory and to only set the  environment  variables  HOME  and  SHELL
       (plus  USER  and LOGNAME if the target user is not root).  This version
       of runuser uses PAM for session management.
OPTIONS
       -c command, --command=command
              Pass command to the shell with the -c option.
       --session-command=command
              Same as -c but do not create a new session (discouraged).
       -f, --fast
              Pass -f to the shell which may or may not be useful depending on
              the shell.
       -g, --group=group
              specify  the primary group, this option is allowed for root user
              only
       -G, --supp-group=group
              Specify a supplemental group.  This option is available  to  the
              root user only.  The first specified supplementary group is also
              used as a primary group if the option --group is unspecified.
       -, -l, --login
              Starts the shell as login shell with an environment similar to a
              real login:
                 o      clears all environment variables except for TERM
                 o      initializes  the  environment  variables  HOME, SHELL,
                        USER, LOGNAME, PATH
                 o      changes to the target user's home directory
                 o      sets argv[0] of the shell to '-' in order to make  the
                        shell a login shell
       -m, -p, --preserve-environment
              Preserves  the  whole  environment, ie does not set HOME, SHELL,
              USER nor LOGNAME.  The option is ignored if the  option  --login
              is specified.
       -s SHELL, --shell=SHELL
              Runs  the  specified shell instead of the default.  The shell to
              run is selected according to the following rules in order:
                 o      the shell specified with --shell
                 o      The shell specified in the environment variable  SHELL
                        if the --preserve-environment option is used.
                 o      the  shell  listed  in  the passwd entry of the target
                        user
                 o      /bin/sh
              If the target user has a restricted shell (i.e.  not  listed  in
              /etc/shells)  the --shell option and the SHELL environment vari-
              ables are ignored unless the calling user is root.
       --help Display help text and exit.
       --version
              Display version information and exit.
CONFIG FILES
       runuser reads the /etc/default/runuser and  /etc/login.defs  configura-
       tion  files.   The  following  configuration  items  are  relevant  for
       runuser:
       ENV_PATH (string)
           Defines the PATH environment variable  for  a  regular  user.   The
           default value is /usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin.
       ENV_ROOTPATH (string)
       ENV_SUPATH (string)
           Defines  the  PATH environment variable for root. The default value
           is /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin.
       ALWAYS_SET_PATH (boolean)
           If set to yes and --login and --preserve-environment were not spec-
           ified runuser initializes PATH.
EXIT STATUS
       runuser  normally  returns  the exit status of the command it executed.
       If the command was killed by a signal, runuser returns  the  number  of
       the signal plus 128.
       Exit status generated by runuser itself:
                 1      Generic error before executing the requested command
                 126    The requested command could not be executed
                 127    The requested command could was not found
FILES
       /etc/pam.d/runuser
                        default PAM configuration file
       /etc/pam.d/runuser-l
                        PAM configuration file if --login is specified
       /etc/default/runuser
                        runuser specific logindef config file
       /etc/login.defs  global logindef config file
SEE ALSO
       pam(8), shells(5), login.defs(5), su(1)
AUTHOR
       Derived  from  coreutils'  su  which was based on an implemenation from
       David MacKenzie and Fedora runuser command from Dan Walsh.
AVAILABILITY
       The runuser command is part of the util-linux package and is  available
       from  Linux  Kernel Archive <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
       linux/>.

util-linux                        August 2012                       RUNUSER(1)