Subject: bug#48894: closed (Re: bug#48894: ambiguous descriptions of logname and whoami)

From: [email-masked] (GNU bug Tracking System)
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2021 14:29:02 +0000

Your bug report

#48894: ambiguous descriptions of logname and whoami

which was filed against the coreutils package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to [email-masked].

-- 
48894: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=48894
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact [email-masked] with problems

Subject: Re: bug#48894: ambiguous descriptions of logname and whoami
From: Pádraig Brady <[email-masked]>
To: Christoph Anton Mitterer <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2021 15:28:38 +0100
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

On 07/06/2021 02:49, Christoph Anton Mitterer wrote:
> Hey.
> 
> Man page of logname say:
> "Print the name of the current user."
> 
> IMO that's ambiguous as it's probably ought to be the name returned by
> getlogin().
> 
> So when I login as normal user, and "su -" to root, logname won't print
> "root" but the normal user.
> However, what most people will understand under the "the current user"
> would be root, in that case.
> 
> 
> 
> Man AND info pages of whoami say:
> "print effective userid"
> 
> However, it's the user name, that is printed, not the userid (which
> most people will understand as the numerical UID).

Fixed with: https://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=coreutils.git;a=commitdiff;h=f76a56831

thanks!
Pádraig

Subject: ambiguous descriptions of logname and whoami
From: Christoph Anton Mitterer <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2021 03:49:28 +0200
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

Hey.

Man page of logname say:
"Print the name of the current user."

IMO that's ambiguous as it's probably ought to be the name returned by
getlogin().

So when I login as normal user, and "su -" to root, logname won't print
"root" but the normal user.
However, what most people will understand under the "the current user"
would be root, in that case.

Man AND info pages of whoami say:
"print effective userid"

However, it's the user name, that is printed, not the userid (which
most people will understand as the numerical UID).

Cheers,
Chris.