Re: [gentoo-user] postfixadmin vacation user uid/home in /etc/passwd
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 -- PGP key @ http://pgpkeys.pca.dfn.de/pks/lookup?search=0xBB9D4887op=get # gpg --recv-keys --keyserver hkp://subkeys.pgp.net 0xBB9D4887 signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
[gentoo-user] postfixadmin vacation user uid/home in /etc/passwd
Greetings, 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... Can I just change it directly (by editing the file with a text editor) without worrying about anything breaking? Currently it is: vacation:x:1003:65501::/home/vacation:/bin/bash and I want to change it to be the same as the INSTALL.TXT recommends: vacation:x:65501:65501::0:0:Virtual Vacation:/nonexistent:/sbin/nologin So, can I just edit the file and be done with it? Also, out of curiosity - can /etc/passwd file contain comments? Thanks...
Re: [gentoo-user] postfixadmin vacation user uid/home in /etc/passwd
On 12/29/2010 9:14 AM, Tanstaafl wrote: Greetings, 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... Can I just change it directly (by editing the file with a text editor) without worrying about anything breaking? Currently it is: vacation:x:1003:65501::/home/vacation:/bin/bash and I want to change it to be the same as the INSTALL.TXT recommends: vacation:x:65501:65501::0:0:Virtual Vacation:/nonexistent:/sbin/nologin So, can I just edit the file and be done with it? Also, out of curiosity - can /etc/passwd file contain comments? Thanks... To your original question, if it works I not would touch it. You may want to look in /home/vacation for .forward or other files that might be helping the vacation functions work if you do decide to change /etc/passwd. IIRC and it's been years vacation was a bit flakey under 2.1 and it required a fair amount of undocumented tweaking to work correctly though it did get better in late 2.1.x. I would consider a plan to upgrade to 2.3.2, but it would be far simpler to build a new system and switch over to it than upgrade in place. And safer. kashani
Re: [gentoo-user] postfixadmin vacation user uid/home in /etc/passwd
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...
Re: [gentoo-user] postfixadmin vacation user uid/home in /etc/passwd
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
