Thanks to all. The problem was su.gnu and su.bsd 2 of them, Myunix book was talking about the su.gnu and my su was the bsd :) so of course, the - flag as in my book didn't work, I wasn't even sure it would work. But now it works. thanks to all.. btw, why is the default su linked to the bsd? any particular reason I might have missed? Thanks again