698 - 'su' does not pick up customized environmental variables

[C. Scott Ananian]

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 4:34 PM, Mikus Grinbergs <mikus at bga.com> wrote:
> I need to set some environmental variables (e.g., http_proxy)
>  because I have a wired connection which goes through a proxy.
>
>  It used to be that issuing 'su' put me into root, but kept the
>  environmental variables set by /etc/bashrc for user 'olpc'.  With
>  698, 'su' gives me environmental variables *without* my
>  customizations.  [The (alt-ctl-F1) text console correctly gives me
>  the customizations set by /etc/profile.]
>
>  When I issue 'su -l', that gives me the customizations set by
>  /etc/profile.
>
>  How come a plain 'su' now sets up its own environmental variables,
>  _bypassing_ both /etc/bashrc and /etc/profile, when previously it
>  would pick up the environmental variables of the user it was issued
>  from ?

Read the man page for su.  You probably need 'su -l' or 'su -p'.
OLPC's su is unchanged from fedora; the only change is that members of
wheel are allowed to su w/o password.  No magic is involved.
  --scott

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