I just ran across this issue in a different way, where it wasn't obvious what was going on. Basically, I confused my su syntax and ran something like
% su andrew id Password: /usr/bin/id: /usr/bin/id: cannot execute binary file What a baffling message that is! It looks like a system error (rather than an arbitrary decision by bash), and bash doesn't even mention that it's involved. A clear message would have saved me some grief. Andrew -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org