From: blymn@awadi.com.au (Brett Lymn)
>According to Nathan Gelbard:
[line breaks adjusted]
>>---
>>This program does not support a "wheel group" that restricts who can su to
>>super-users accounts, because that can help fasciest system admins hold
>>unwarranted power of other users.
>>---
>Ahhhh riiight - what they mean is "I just shoulder surfed the r00t
>password so I should be able to use it".
>
>If you are supposed to be able to su to root then you will be in the
>wheel group - end of story IMHO.

Actually, that is not what "they" mean.  The following is from the manual
page for GNU `su`:

[begin extract]
Why GNU su does not support the wheel group (by Richard Stallman):

     Sometimes a few of the users try to hold  total  power  over
     all  the rest.  For example, in 1984, a few users at the MIT
     AI lab decided to seize power by changing the operator pass-
     word  on the Twenex system and keeping it secret from every-
     one else.  (I was able to thwart this coup  and  give  power
     back  to  the  users  by patching the kernel, but I wouldn't
     know how to do that in Unix.)

     However, occasionally the rulers do tell someone.  Under the
     usual  su  mechanism,  once someone learns the root password
     who sympathizes with the ordinary users,  he  can  tell  the
     rest.  The "wheel group" feature would make this impossible,
     and thus cement the power of the rulers.

     I'm on the side of the masses, not that of the  rulers.   If
     you are used to supporting the bosses and sysadmins in what-
     ever they do, you might find this idea strange at first.
[end extract]

Given the numbers of cracker filth on the Net these days I think the
wheel group restriction is more a benefit to the users than not, but
I can sympathize with Stallman's position.

Max