MAY Command

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MAY Command

Use the MAY command to query the AUTHORIZ CONFIG file.

MAY [userid [authword ...]]

Definitions

userid

Specifies the user ID whose authorizations you want CA VM:Secure to query. You can specify a user ID by name if you are authorized to query that user ID, or any of the variable user IDs described under the LISTAUTH command.

The default user ID is I.

authword ...

Specifies a list of authority words that describe the authorization to query. You can specify any authority, or any of the authority variables described under the LISTAUTH command.

The default for each authority word is ANYWRD.

Note: The default authority word for the MAY command is ANYWRD, while the default authority word for the LISTAUTH command is EVERYWRD. These different default values can produce different results for the LISTAUTH and MAY commands, even though their functions are similar.

Description

The MAY command lets you query the AUTHORIZ CONFIG file to determine whether a user ID has a specific authorization. This command always returns a code of 0 or 8. It does not stack any data. You can use this command in programs that check CA VM:Secure authorizations.

The difference between the MAY command and the CAN command (CA VM:Secure only) is that the MAY command queries authorizations in the AUTHORIZ CONFIG file to use CA VM:Secure commands and the CAN command queries authorizations in the CA VM:Secure rules database to use CP, CA VM:Schedule, and CA VM:Tape commands.

Return Codes

The following table describes the return codes:

Return Code	Meaning
0	User ID is authorized to perform the function
8	User ID is not authorized to perform the function

Examples

To determine whether JUNIOR is allowed to issue the CHGMDISK command for any user IDs, enter:
```
vmsecure may junior chgmdisk anyusr
```
To determine whether any user has been given authority to manage every other user ID, enter:
```
vmsecure may anyusr manage everyusr
```
To check whether you can use the EXPIRE command on user ID SMITH, enter:
```
vmsecure may i expire smith
```

Note: For information about how to find all authorizations a user ID has for a command or function, see LISTAUTH Command.