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CALIFE(1)		    General Commands Manual		     CALIFE(1)

NAME
       calife -- becomes root (or another user)	legally.

SYNOPSIS
       calife [-] [login]

	      or

       ... [-] [login] for some	sites (check with your administrator).

DESCRIPTION
       Calife  requests	user's own password for	becoming login (or root, if no
       login is	provided), and switches	to that	user and group ID after	 veri-
       fying  proper rights to do so.  A shell is then executed.  If calife is
       executed	by root, no password is	requested and a	shell with the	appro-
       priate user ID is executed.

       The invoked shell is the	user's own except when a shell is specified in
       the configuration file calife.auth.

       If  ``-''  is  specified	 on the	command	line, user's profile files are
       read as if it was a login shell.

       This is not the traditional behavior of su.

       Only users specified in calife.auth can use calife  to  become  another
       one with	this method.

       You  can	specify	in the calife.auth file	the list of logins allowed for
       users when using	calife.	 See calife.auth(5) for	more details.

       calife.auth is installed	as /usr/local/etc/calife.auth.

FILES
       /usr/local/etc/calife.auth
			 List of users authorized to use calife	and the	 users
			 they can become.
       /usr/local/etc/calife.out
			 This  script  is  executed  just after	getting	out of
			 calife.

SEE ALSO
       su(1), calife.auth(5), group(5),	environ(7)

ENVIRONMENT
       The original environment	is kept. This is not a security	problem	as you
       have to be yourself at login (i.e. it does not have the	same  security
       implications as in su(1)	).

       Environment variables used by calife:

       HOME  Default home directory of real user ID.

       PATH  Default  search path of real user ID unless modified as specified
	     above.

       TERM  Provides terminal type which may be retained for the  substituted
	     user ID.

       USER  The user ID is always the effective ID (the target	user ID) after
	     an	su unless the user ID is 0 (root).

BUGS
       The  MD5-based  crypt(3)	 function is slower and	probably stronger than
       the DES-based one but it	is usable only among FreeBSD 2.0+ systems.

HISTORY
       A calife	command	appeared in DG/UX, written for Antenne 2 in  1991.  It
       has  evolved  considerably since	this period with more OS support, user
       lists handling and improved logging.

       PAM support was introduced in 2005 to port it to	MacOS X	variants (Pan-
       ther and	up).

AUTHOR
       Ollivier	Robert <roberto@keltia.freenix.fr>

FreeBSD	ports 15.0	      September	25, 1994		     CALIFE(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=calife&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.0>

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