[2701] in SIPB_Linux_Development
Re: new xlogin problems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Derek Atkins)
Mon Mar 8 10:17:03 1999
To: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
Cc: linux-dev@MIT.EDU
From: Derek Atkins <warlord@MIT.EDU>
Date: 08 Mar 1999 10:16:36 -0500
In-Reply-To: Greg Hudson's message of Mon, 08 Mar 1999 10:01:04 EST
The reason it doesn't create the files is because the original
/etc/passwd and /etc/group files are created AFTER the packages
are installed. The best we could do is create the files at the
first reboot.
If would be nice if we could modify the useradd configuration tools
to deal with /etc/{passwd,group}.local and potentially even a Hesiod
user.
-derek
Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU> writes:
>
> warlord wrote, on linux-help:
> >> IIRC, /etc/passwd.local is not used anymore in version 5.2
>
> amu responded, also on linux-help:
> > Uh, no, it's still used if present. It's just less important than
> > it was in previous releases, because the new Athena Login library is
> > better about cleaning up passwd.
>
> /etc/passwd.local and /etc/group.local are still necessary for correct
> operation of the athena login library. For instance, if you reboot a
> machine while still logged in, you will not get cleaned out of the
> passwd or group file without .local files. The RH-A 5.2 install
> doesn't currently create those files; it should. (I've failed to
> report this as a bug before.)
>
> (The reboot case could be fixed, but the .local cases are still
> necessary for robustness in the face of software bugs, and to handle
> certain race conditions.)
--
Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board (SIPB)
URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/ PP-ASEL N1NWH
warlord@MIT.EDU PGP key available
