Wheel (computing) explained

In Unix operating systems, the term wheel refers to a user account with a wheel bit, a system setting that provides additional special system privileges that empower a user to execute restricted commands that ordinary user accounts cannot access.[1]

Origins

The term wheel was first applied to computer user privilege levels after the introduction of the TENEX operating system, later distributed under the name TOPS-20 in the 1960s and early 1970s.[2] [3] The term was derived from the slang phrase big wheel, referring to a person with great power or influence.[1]

In the 1980s, the term was imported into Unix culture due to the migration of operating system developers and users from TENEX/TOPS-20 to Unix.[2]

Wheel group

Modern Unix systems generally use user groups as a security protocol to control access privileges. The wheel group is a special user group used on some Unix systems, mostly BSD systems, to control access to the su[4] [5] or sudo command, which allows a user to masquerade as another user (usually the super user).[1] [2] [6] Debian and its derivatives create a group called sudo with purpose similar to that of a wheel group.[7]

Wheel war

The phrase wheel war, which originated at Stanford University,[8] is a term used in computer culture, first documented in the 1983 version of The Jargon File. A 'wheel war' was a user conflict in a multi-user (see also: multiseat) computer system, in which students with administrative privileges would attempt to lock each other out of a university's computer system, sometimes causing unintentional harm to other users.[9]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wheel . 2017-04-22 . Jargon File 4.4.7 . Eric S. Raymond .
  2. Web site: Wheel bit . 2017-04-22 . Jargon File 4.4.7 . Eric S. Raymond .
  3. Web site: TWENEX. 2008-09-12 . Jargon File 4.4.7 . Eric S. Raymond .
  4. Web site: su(1) - OpenBSD manual pages. man.openbsd.org. 2018-05-05.
  5. Web site: su. www.freebsd.org. 2018-05-05.
  6. Book: Levi, Bozidar . UNIX Administration: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for Effective Systems and Network Management . CRC Press . 2002 . 0-8493-1351-1 . 207.
  7. Web site: Why is Debian not creating the 'wheel' group by default? . 2024-04-08 . Unix & Linux Stack Exchange . en.
  8. Web site: Jargon File . Raymond. etal . Jargon File 2.1.1 . 2016-08-15 . Eric S. Raymond.
  9. Web site: Jargon File . Steele. etal . Jargon File 1.5.0 . 2016-08-15.