chuser(1) – man page

chuser(1) - man page

Name

chuser- change the current user

Synopsis

chuser [options]

Options

  -n, --now       immediately terminate this user.

  -s, --soft      if painless termination protocols are available,
                  use them. This option is ignored on systems without
                  appropriate hardware.

  -R, --recursive terminate users recursively. This option causes
                  chuser to spawn new chuser processes repeatedly
                  until a user capable of terminating it does so.

  -v, --verbose   replace the usual output of chuser with the
                  input from the microphone.

History

chuser is intended for users who are instructed to use it by 
remote helpdesk operators. It is scheduled for depre-
cation when IT customer services are replaced by robots
with infinite patience.

Comments

chuser attempts to detach the current user from the current
machine. The result of running chuser is non-deterministic
and depends on available hardware. chuser typically fails when run 
by a user who intended to run it, but may succeed when used 
unwittingly. 

chuser expects to run on a foreground thread, so attempting
to background it or run it in a terminal controlled by screen(1)
or tmux(1) may increase the chance of success.

See also

shutdown(8) 
kill(1)
sudo rm -Rf /