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On 12/30/2010 12:59 AM, kashani wrote: |
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> On 12/29/2010 1:36 PM, Tanstaafl wrote: |
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>> On 2010-12-29 3:50 PM, kashani wrote: |
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>>> On 12/29/2010 9:14 AM, Tanstaafl wrote: |
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>>>> I'm updating an old system I inherited that has postfixadmin 2.1 |
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>>>> installed, and I have a question about the vacation user entry in |
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>>>> /etc/passwd... |
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>> |
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>> <snip> |
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>> |
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>>> I would consider a plan to upgrade to 2.3.2, |
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>> |
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>> I guess I could have been clearer - I said I was updating the system, |
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>> and updating pfadmin to 2.3.2 is what I'm doing now... and I want to |
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>> configure everything *correctly*. Right now, vacation has a shell, and |
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>> it shouldn't - I just want to know if simply editing /etc/passwd is the |
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>> correct way to fix it... |
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>> |
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>>> but it would be far simpler to build a new system and switch over to |
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>>> it than upgrade in place. And safer. |
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>> |
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>> I already have the new pfadmin up and running, and I'll be switching |
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>> over this weekend... |
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>> |
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>> Any idea about my other question: |
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>> |
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>>>> Also, out of curiosity - can /etc/passwd file contain comments? |
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>> |
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>> Thanks... |
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>> |
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> |
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> Sure you can edit it directly though you'll break anyone currently using |
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> vacation as soon as you do. Make sure you fix /etc/shadow and /etc/group |
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> too. Or use usermod which would be the proper way to make the change. |
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> |
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> /etc/passwd shouldn't have stand alone comments which might cause weird |
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> problems with pwconv, grpconv, etc. Use the comment field of the user. |
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> |
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> kashani |
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> |
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See "$ man -S5 passwd" for the format of /etc/passwd. Or in short: |
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|
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Each line of the file describes a single user, and has the following format: |
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account:password:UID:GID:GECOS:directory:shell |
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|
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So there is no comment allowed. But you can place this stuff in GECOS if |
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you like and need it. Will be visible to users though. |
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|
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About editing /etc/passwd directly: don't! It can mess up your system, |
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so that noone can login anymore. The recomended way is "$ usermod", the |
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"direct" way is "$ vipw". It is a wrapper around "vi" that does simple |
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sytax checks, so you don't break things. I use it if I have to edit |
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/etc/passwd. There is also "vigr" :) "$ vipw -s" and "$vigr -s" lets you |
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edit the shadow files. |
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|
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Bye, |
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Daniel |
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-- |
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PGP key @ http://pgpkeys.pca.dfn.de/pks/lookup?search=0xBB9D4887&op=get |
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# gpg --recv-keys --keyserver hkp://subkeys.pgp.net 0xBB9D4887 |
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