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List:       gentoo-user
Subject:    Re: [gentoo-user] postfixadmin vacation user uid/home in /etc/passwd
From:       Daniel Troeder <daniel () admin-box ! com>
Date:       2010-12-30 8:34:57
Message-ID: 4D1C51E8.2080805 () admin-box ! com
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On 12/30/2010 12:59 AM, kashani wrote:
> On 12/29/2010 1:36 PM, Tanstaafl wrote:
>> On 2010-12-29 3:50 PM, kashani wrote:
>>> On 12/29/2010 9:14 AM, Tanstaafl wrote:
>>>> I'm updating an old system I inherited that has postfixadmin 2.1
>>>> installed, and I have a question about the vacation user entry in
>>>> /etc/passwd...
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> I would consider a plan to upgrade to 2.3.2,
>>
>> I guess I could have been clearer - I said I was updating the system,
>> and updating pfadmin to 2.3.2 is what I'm doing now... and I want to
>> configure everything *correctly*. Right now, vacation has a shell, and
>> it shouldn't - I just want to know if simply editing /etc/passwd is the
>> correct way to fix it...
>>
>>> but it would be far simpler to build a new system and switch over to
>>> it than upgrade in place. And safer.
>>
>> I already have the new pfadmin up and running, and I'll be switching
>> over this weekend...
>>
>> Any idea about my other question:
>>
>>>> Also, out of curiosity - can /etc/passwd file contain comments?
>>
>> Thanks...
>>
> 
> Sure you can edit it directly though you'll break anyone currently using
> vacation as soon as you do. Make sure you fix /etc/shadow and /etc/group
> too. Or use usermod which would be the proper way to make the change.
> 
> /etc/passwd shouldn't have stand alone comments which might cause weird
> problems with pwconv, grpconv, etc. Use the comment field of the user.
> 
> kashani
> 
See "$ man -S5 passwd" for the format of /etc/passwd. Or in short:

Each line of the file describes a single user, and has the following format:
          account:password:UID:GID:GECOS:directory:shell

So there is no comment allowed. But you can place this stuff in GECOS if
you like and need it. Will be visible to users though.

About editing /etc/passwd directly: don't! It can mess up your system,
so that noone can login anymore. The recomended way is "$ usermod", the
"direct" way is "$ vipw". It is a wrapper around "vi" that does simple
sytax checks, so you don't break things. I use it if I have to edit
/etc/passwd. There is also "vigr" :) "$ vipw -s" and "$vigr -s" lets you
edit the shadow files.

Bye,
Daniel


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