[2197] in Release_7.7_team
Re: Fwd: A question about how groups get handled
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim McGovern)
Tue Apr 4 15:13:59 2000
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Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 15:13:43 -0400
To: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
From: Tim McGovern <tjm@MIT.EDU>
Cc: release-team@MIT.EDU, grouper@MIT.EDU
Thanks, Greg. Two followups from the team on what you wrote earlier:
At 4:17 PM -0400 4/3/00, Greg Hudson wrote:
>Well, first it looks at the existing /etc/group file on the machine,
>and adds you to any groups you belong to (without going over 14, of
>course). Then, if it hasn't hit 14 yet, it adds entries to
>/etc/groups starting with the primary group ("mit" for most users) and
>going in order along the Hesiod group list (the result of "hesinfo tjm
>grplist").
1. If the /etc/groups file comes from Hesiod's list, is there any way to
predict what order _that_ list is in, or if Moira determines the order,
what is _that_? BTW, do I infer correctly that the order may be quite
unpredictable depending on what's already in the file on the machine?
2. We understand that the /etc/groups file controls access to NFS servers.
Otherwise, the file seems to contain pretty random and useless entries for
most people. What else uses the file? Is there some UNIX dependency on the
file that isn't normally visible? Oh, and speaking of visible or not, is
there a clear definition of what it means for a list to be "visible" vs.
"hidden"?
Thanks,
Tim
