Because the normal UNIX security rules do not permit one process to send signals to another (unless they both belong to the same user or the sender is the superuser), the A-Shell KILL.LIT utility invokes a command called ashkill rather than accessing the standard UNIX kill command directly. It is up to you to create the ashkill file according to the type of security you want for this potentially dangerous function. In most cases, the thing to do is to make a copy of the standard kill executable called ashkill. (It is typically located in the /usr/bin or /bin directories.) To avoid mixing A-Shell files up with the operating system files, it is recommended that you put ashkill in the MIAME bin directory (e.g. /vm/miame/bin).

If you only want the superuser to be able to use the KILL.LIT command, or if you have already set the SETUID bit on the A-Shell (as described above) so that every A-Shell job is effectively owned by the same user, then there is nothing else to do. Otherwise, if you want ordinary users to be able to execute KILL.LIT, then configure ashkill to temporarily give the user superuser privileges with the following commands:

$ su root

<enter root password>

# cd /vm/miame/bin

# chown root ashkill

# chmod +s ashkill

# exit

Another option is to create a script called ashkill that uses more sophisticated logic to decide whether the current user (perhaps on the basis of his logon identity) should be allowed to kill other users.