It is extremely difficult to obtain help information and version information for the su command. about kernelsu

[tiann]

su is sh, sh don't have -v and -h, so su won't have.

[tiann]

48e76f9

oriole:/ $ su -h
KernelSU

Usage: su [options] [-] [user [argument...]]

Options:
    -c, --command COMMAND
                        pass COMMAND to the invoked shell
    -h, --help          display this help message and exit
    -l, --login         force run in the global mount namespace
    -p, --preserve-environment
                        preserve the entire environment
    -s, --shell         use SHELL instead of the default /system/bin/sh
    -v, --version       display version number and exit
    -V                  display version code and exit
    -M, --mount-master  force run in the global mount namespace

[tiann]

su is actually sh in KernelSU, what's the use case of su -V and su --help?

[huangsijun17]

su is actually in KernelSU, what's the use case of and ?sh``su -V``su --help

MagiskSU Example:

OnePlus8T:/ $ su --help
MagiskSU

Usage: su [options] [-] [user [argument...]]

Options:
  -c, --command COMMAND         pass COMMAND to the invoked shell
  -h, --help                    display this help message and exit
  -, -l, --login                pretend the shell to be a login shell
  -m, -p,
  --preserve-environment        preserve the entire environment
  -s, --shell SHELL             use SHELL instead of the default /system/bin/sh
  -v, --version                 display version number and exit
  -V                            display version code and exit
  -mm, -M,
  --mount-master                force run in the global mount namespace

OnePlus8T:/ $ su -h
MagiskSU

Usage: su [options] [-] [user [argument...]]

Options:
  -c, --command COMMAND         pass COMMAND to the invoked shell
  -h, --help                    display this help message and exit
  -, -l, --login                pretend the shell to be a login shell
  -m, -p,
  --preserve-environment        preserve the entire environment
  -s, --shell SHELL             use SHELL instead of the default /system/bin/sh
  -v, --version                 display version number and exit
  -V                            display version code and exit
  -mm, -M,
  --mount-master                force run in the global mount namespace

OnePlus8T:/ $ su -?
su: invalid option -- ?

MagiskSU

Usage: su [options] [-] [user [argument...]]

Options:
  -c, --command COMMAND         pass COMMAND to the invoked shell
  -h, --help                    display this help message and exit
  -, -l, --login                pretend the shell to be a login shell
  -m, -p,
  --preserve-environment        preserve the entire environment
  -s, --shell SHELL             use SHELL instead of the default /system/bin/sh
  -v, --version                 display version number and exit
  -V                            display version code and exit
  -mm, -M,
  --mount-master                force run in the global mount namespace

2|OnePlus8T:/ $ su -v
25.2:MAGISKSU
OnePlus8T:/ $ su -V
25200
OnePlus8T:/ $ su --version
25.2:MAGISKSU

[tiann]

KernelSU is not Magisk

[huangsijun17]

KernelSU is not Magisk

Ubuntu Example:

user@X570:~$ su --help

Usage:
 su [options] [-] [<user> [<argument>...]]

Change the effective user ID and group ID to that of <user>.
A mere - implies -l.  If <user> is not given, root is assumed.

Options:
 -m, -p, --preserve-environment      do not reset environment variables
 -w, --whitelist-environment <list>  don't reset specified variables

 -g, --group <group>             specify the primary group
 -G, --supp-group <group>        specify a supplemental group

 -, -l, --login                  make the shell a login shell
 -c, --command <command>         pass a single command to the shell with -c
 --session-command <command>     pass a single command to the shell with -c
                                   and do not create a new session
 -f, --fast                      pass -f to the shell (for csh or tcsh)
 -s, --shell <shell>             run <shell> if /etc/shells allows it
 -P, --pty                       create a new pseudo-terminal

 -h, --help                      display this help
 -V, --version                   display version

For more details see su(1).
user@X570:~$ su -h

Usage:
 su [options] [-] [<user> [<argument>...]]

Change the effective user ID and group ID to that of <user>.
A mere - implies -l.  If <user> is not given, root is assumed.

Options:
 -m, -p, --preserve-environment      do not reset environment variables
 -w, --whitelist-environment <list>  don't reset specified variables

 -g, --group <group>             specify the primary group
 -G, --supp-group <group>        specify a supplemental group

 -, -l, --login                  make the shell a login shell
 -c, --command <command>         pass a single command to the shell with -c
 --session-command <command>     pass a single command to the shell with -c
                                   and do not create a new session
 -f, --fast                      pass -f to the shell (for csh or tcsh)
 -s, --shell <shell>             run <shell> if /etc/shells allows it
 -P, --pty                       create a new pseudo-terminal

 -h, --help                      display this help
 -V, --version                   display version

For more details see su(1).
user@X570:~$ su -?
su: invalid option -- '?'
Try 'su --help' for more information.
user@X570:~$ su -v
su: invalid option -- 'v'
Try 'su --help' for more information.
user@X570:~$ su -V
su from util-linux 2.34
user@X570:~$ su --version
su from util-linux 2.34

[tiann]

If you need this, please make a PR.

[androidacy-user]

Worth noting root apps often depend on the output of su -v to obtain su version information and confirm su is compatible and working, so KernelSU isn't compatible with any of them.

[tiann]

su is sh in KernelSU, so the version is not so important. Do you care the version when you use adb shell？su is nothing special except its uid is 0 and selinux is unrestricted.