Strange su behaviour I've never figured out [Solved]

[Hawklad]

This is one that probably has a simple solution, but I've never been able to figure it out.

I can su to root just fine, but when I su back to regular user within that same terminal it seems to work -- it "says" I'm the user (using whoami) -- but I can run any programs without getting

Code: Select all

 
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified

Error: couldn't open display :0.0

If I open up a new terminal window it work fine. Its just the switching back to a regular user from root that elicits that error.

Also, when I su back into root again (for second time) it takes a loooong time to authenticate the root password (>20 seconds). I imagine that's related somehow.

This has been the case with every Gentoo install I've ever done, going back over 3 years.

Am I alone on this? Is there some simple solution I'm missing?

(I use Eterm if that matters).

[jtaylor72]

instead of su'ing back to the regular user, you can exit the su to root by typing exit. That's what I usually do. I tried your example, su to root, then su to user, and I got the same behavior as you do, with and without the '-' option (though different error messages slightly).

[Hawklad]

Perfect! That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the tip, it works great now.

I love these forums!