Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?

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Article #4475

#4475

From: Richard Tobin
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 00:00

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In article <Pine.LNX.3.95.970515180937.229A-100000@itclub.mur.csu.edu.au> "Mr Happy..." <crucible@itclub.mur.csu.edu.au> writes:

>> > > > su = Super User

>Clear this up... Substitute User

>       This manual page documents the GNU version of su.

Excellent though the GNU utilities are, their man pages are hardly
definitive on the etymology of unix terms.  You need to look further
back...

In the 3rd (and 6th) edition manual, the su command's description
starts "su allows one to become the super-user".  The command didn't
take a user name argument.  I think this suggests strongly that it
originally stood for "super-user", and alternatives like "set user"
and "substitute user" are later rationalisations - perfectly
reasonable but with no special claim to being the "true" meaning.

No doubt Peter da Silva has an earlier manual to prove me wrong.

-- Richard
--
"I" is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

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From: richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin)
Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?
Date: 1997/05/16
Message-ID: <EA900H.HsJ@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
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