login probs with ENV-files

braindeadt · 04-22-2003, 03:45 PM

hi i have a problem with logging into linux

everytime when i login the /etc/profile and then the /home/username/.profile are executed
even if i change the user with:
su - username

but if i change the username with:
su username (without "-")
none of these files are executed

so my questions are:
what is the different between changing user with "su - username"
and "su username" ?

and are there any files wich are executed when i use "su username" ?

david_ross · 04-22-2003, 04:07 PM

When you use "su -" you create a new shell started by that user for working in.

There aren't any programs executed by a normal su but you can use su to run a program as another user like:
su - -c "iptables -L"

In this case you would get the iptables rule listing.

Edit: perhaps this is a better example:
su root -c "/sbin/iptables -L"