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Whenever I su to user X, it always starts in user Y home directory. The biggest issue is that then X doesn't run its .bash_profile, it attempts Y's and fails. I'm guessing it's just a typo in how the user was defined, but don't know where that is. This is on Red Hat.

How do I change the user's starting directory or otherwise fix these symptoms?

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  • 1
    are you doing su <user> or su <user> - ?
    – Zypher
    Dec 21, 2010 at 18:38
  • @Zypher I was just doing su X
    – Adam
    Dec 21, 2010 at 18:41
  • The option below leads me to believe the problem is that I logged in as user Y, and was in his home. Did some stuff from there and was looking to switch to user X with X's full profile. The -l flag provides the behavior I was expecting
    – Adam
    Dec 21, 2010 at 18:43
  • You should mark it answered, then ;)
    – Jeff Ferland
    Dec 21, 2010 at 19:03
  • I had to wait 10 min. ;)
    – Adam
    Dec 21, 2010 at 19:43

1 Answer 1

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Try su -l $userX to, "Provide an environment similar to what the user would expect had the user logged in directly."

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