1RUNUSER(1) User Commands RUNUSER(1)
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6 runuser - run a command with substitute user and group ID
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9 runuser [options] -u user [[--] command [argument...]]
10 runuser [options] [-] [user [argument...]]
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14 runuser allows to run commands with a substitute user and group ID. If
15 the option -u is not given, it falls back to su-compatible semantics
16 and a shell is executed. The difference between the commands runuser
17 and su is that runuser does not ask for a password (because it may be
18 executed by the root user only) and it uses a different PAM configura‐
19 tion. The command runuser does not have to be installed with set-user-
20 ID permissions.
21 If the PAM session is not required then recommended solution is to use
23 setpriv(1) command.
24 When called without arguments, runuser defaults to running an interac‐
26 tive shell as root.
27 For backward compatibility, runuser defaults to not change the current
29 directory and to only set the environment variables HOME and SHELL
30 (plus USER and LOGNAME if the target user is not root). This version
31 of runuser uses PAM for session management.
32
34 -c, --command=command
35 Pass command to the shell with the -c option.
36 -f, --fast
38 Pass -f to the shell, which may or may not be useful depending
39 on the shell.
40 -g, --group=group
42 The primary group to be used. This option is allowed for the
43 root user only.
44 -G, --supp-group=group
46 Specify a supplemental group. This option is available to the
47 root user only. The first specified supplementary group is also
48 used as a primary group if the option --group is unspecified.
49 -, -l, --login
51 Start the shell as a login shell with an environment similar to
52 a real login:
53 o clears all the environment variables except for TERM
55 and variables specified by --whitelist-environment
56 o initializes the environment variables HOME, SHELL,
58 USER, LOGNAME, PATH
59 o changes to the target user's home directory
61 o sets argv[0] of the shell to '-' in order to make the
63 shell a login shell
64 -m, -p, --preserve-environment
66 Preserve the entire environment, i.e. it does not set HOME,
67 SHELL, USER nor LOGNAME. The option is ignored if the option
68 --login is specified.
69 -s, --shell=shell
71 Run the specified shell instead of the default. The shell to
72 run is selected according to the following rules, in order:
73 o the shell specified with --shell
75 o the shell specified in the environment variable SHELL
77 if the --preserve-environment option is used
78 o the shell listed in the passwd entry of the target
80 user
81 o /bin/sh
83 If the target user has a restricted shell (i.e. not listed in
85 /etc/shells) the --shell option and the SHELL environment vari‐
86 ables are ignored unless the calling user is root.
87 --session-command=command
89 Same as -c , but do not create a new session. (Discouraged.)
90 -w, --whitelist-environment=list
92 Don't reset environment variables specified in comma separated
93 list when clears environment for --login. The whitelist is
94 ignored for the environment variables HOME, SHELL, USER, LOG‐
95 NAME, and PATH.
96 -V, --version
98 Display version information and exit.
99 -h, --help
101 Display help text and exit.
102
104 runuser reads the /etc/default/runuser and /etc/login.defs configura‐
105 tion files. The following configuration items are relevant for
106 runuser:
107 ENV_PATH (string)
109 Defines the PATH environment variable for a regular user. The
110 default value is /usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin.
111 ENV_ROOTPATH (string)
113 ENV_SUPATH (string)
114 Defines the PATH environment variable for root. The default value
115 is /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin.
116 ALWAYS_SET_PATH (boolean)
118 If set to yes and --login and --preserve-environment were not spec‐
119 ified runuser initializes PATH.
120 The environment variable PATH may be different on systems where /bin
122 and /sbin are merged into /usr.
123
125 runuser normally returns the exit status of the command it executed.
126 If the command was killed by a signal, runuser returns the number of
127 the signal plus 128.
128 Exit status generated by runuser itself:
130 1 Generic error before executing the requested command
132 126 The requested command could not be executed
134 127 The requested command was not found
136
138 /etc/pam.d/runuser
139 default PAM configuration file
140 /etc/pam.d/runuser-l
141 PAM configuration file if --login is specified
142 /etc/default/runuser
143 runuser specific logindef config file
144 /etc/login.defs global logindef config file
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147 setpriv(1), su(1), login.defs(5), shells(5), pam(8)
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150 This runuser command was derived from coreutils' su, which was based
151 on an implementation by David MacKenzie, and the Fedora runuser command
152 by Dan Walsh.
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155 The runuser command is part of the util-linux package and is available
156 from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
157 linux/⟩.
158util-linux July 2014 RUNUSER(1)