is it possible to change between users from terminal

[raghavan20]

we all know that we can use su to change as root from terminal to work on important files.

is there is any possibility to switch as another normal user from the terminal.
for ex:
if we have two normal users: user1 and user2

if i am logged in as user1, is it possible to change as user2 if know user2's password.

thanks.

[Zelmo]

Yep, the same su command will do it:

$ su user2
Password:

[raghavan20]

thanks very much...that works

[raghavan20]

i have a doubt...if i change to another user in terminal...then i am able to do operations related to the changed user only in terminal but the graphical interface still points to the old user and i am not able to operations related to the changed user lets say in gnome.

[jan1024188]

if you change the user in terminal you would be able to do anything with that user in terminal.To change user in GUI (Graphical user interface) log out and log in as diferent user

i hope that helps

[devils casper]

i have a doubt...if i change to another user in terminal...then i am able to do operations related to the changed user only in terminal but the graphical interface still points to the old user and i am not able to operations related to the changed user lets say in gnome.

launch GUI from terminal...
for file browser
$ nautilus

<=== { casper } ===>

[raghavan20]

casper your answer sounded interesting,,,but when i tried to launch nautilus, it says.

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

(nautilus:3272) Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:

i then tried to open a file belonging to the changed user from terminal in kwrite...it displays the following...

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

kwrite: cannot connect to X server:0.0

[Cabhan]

Ah, no. You have to be in X already. So with X running as user1, if you open an xterm (or Konsole, or GNOME Terminal, or whatever), change user, and run a graphical application, it will run as the changed user.

[raghavan20]

alright...i will explain again what i did
l logged in to X as user1, opened terminal, used su user2, tried to launch nautilus and it gave up the error i posted earlier.

[Zelmo]

Right, that's due to something called xauthority. By default, only the user who's logged into the X session has the authority to launch X clients. You can pass your authority to others using the xhost command. As user1,

$ xhost user2

will allow user2 to use your X server, or

xhost+

allows anyone and everyone to use it. See the xhost manpage for more details.

My preference is to install the sux package and just use sux instead of su to switch users, and sux takes care of all the authority stuff.