1RUNUSER(1)                       User Commands                      RUNUSER(1)
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NAME

6       runuser - run a command with substitute user and group ID
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SYNOPSIS

9       runuser [options] -u user [[--] command [argument...]]
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11       runuser [options] [-] [user [argument...]]
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DESCRIPTION

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.
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22       If  the PAM session is not required then recommended solution is to use
23       setpriv(1) command.
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25       When called without arguments, runuser defaults to running an  interac‐
26       tive shell as root.
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28       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.
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OPTIONS

34       -c, --command=command
35              Pass command to the shell with the -c option.
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37       -f, --fast
38              Pass -f to the shell, which may or may not be  useful  depending
39              on the shell.
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41       -g, --group=group
42              The  primary  group  to be used.  This option is allowed for the
43              root user only.
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45       -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.
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50       -, -l, --login
51              Start the shell as a login shell with an environment similar  to
52              a real login:
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54                 o      clears all the environment variables except for TERM
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56                 o      initializes  the  environment  variables  HOME, SHELL,
57                        USER, LOGNAME, PATH
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59                 o      changes to the target user's home directory
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61                 o      sets argv[0] of the shell to '-' in order to make  the
62                        shell a login shell
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64       -m, -p, --preserve-environment
65              Preserve  the  entire  environment,  i.e.  it does not set HOME,
66              SHELL, USER nor LOGNAME.  The option is ignored  if  the  option
67              --login is specified.
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69       -s, --shell=shell
70              Run  the  specified  shell instead of the default.  The shell to
71              run is selected according to the following rules, in order:
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73                 o      the shell specified with --shell
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75                 o      the shell specified in the environment variable  SHELL
76                        if the --preserve-environment option is used
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78                 o      the  shell  listed  in  the passwd entry of the target
79                        user
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81                 o      /bin/sh
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83              If the target user has a restricted shell (i.e.  not  listed  in
84              /etc/shells)  the --shell option and the SHELL environment vari‐
85              ables are ignored unless the calling user is root.
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87       --session-command=command
88              Same as -c , but do not create a new session.  (Discouraged.)
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90       -V, --version
91              Display version information and exit.
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93       -h, --help
94              Display help text and exit.
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CONFIG FILES

97       runuser reads the /etc/default/runuser and  /etc/login.defs  configura‐
98       tion  files.   The  following  configuration  items  are  relevant  for
99       runuser:
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101       ENV_PATH (string)
102           Defines the PATH environment variable  for  a  regular  user.   The
103           default value is /usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin.
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105       ENV_ROOTPATH (string)
106       ENV_SUPATH (string)
107           Defines  the  PATH environment variable for root. The default value
108           is /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin.
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110       ALWAYS_SET_PATH (boolean)
111           If set to yes and --login and --preserve-environment were not spec‐
112           ified runuser initializes PATH.
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EXIT STATUS

115       runuser  normally  returns  the exit status of the command it executed.
116       If the command was killed by a signal, runuser returns  the  number  of
117       the signal plus 128.
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119       Exit status generated by runuser itself:
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121                 1      Generic error before executing the requested command
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123                 126    The requested command could not be executed
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125                 127    The requested command was not found
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FILES

128       /etc/pam.d/runuser
129                        default PAM configuration file
130       /etc/pam.d/runuser-l
131                        PAM configuration file if --login is specified
132       /etc/default/runuser
133                        runuser specific logindef config file
134       /etc/login.defs  global logindef config file
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SEE ALSO

137       setpriv(1), su(1), login.defs(5), shells(5), pam(8)
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HISTORY

140       This   runuser  command was derived from coreutils' su, which was based
141       on an implementation by David MacKenzie, and the Fedora runuser command
142       by Dan Walsh.
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AVAILABILITY

145       The  runuser command is part of the util-linux package and is available
146       from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
147       linux/⟩.
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151util-linux                         July 2014                        RUNUSER(1)