On Thu, 9 Mar 2000, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Scott McDermott wrote:
> >
> > H. Peter Anvin on Wed 8/03 10:53 -0800:
> > > > Hm.. so is the automount entry found in /etc/nsswitch.conf ignored?
> > > > Does anything read it?
> > >
> > > No.
> >
> > Well that's useful. No sense integrating into the name services switch,
> > is there.
> >
> > Included Maps
> > The contents of another map can be included within a map
> > with an entry of the form
> >
> > +mapname
> >
> > If mapname begins with a slash then it is assumed to be the
> > pathname of a local file. Otherwise the location of the map
> > is determined by the policy of the name service switch
> > according to the entry for the automounter in
> > /etc/nsswitch.conf, such as
> >
> > automount: files nis
> >
> > If the name service is files then the name is assumed to be
> > that of a local file in /etc. If the key being searched for
> > is not found in the included map, the search continues with
> > the next entry.
> >
> > Ahhhh how useful that would be...
> >
> > --
> > Scott
>
> Of course. Let's connect into YET ANOTHER completely unrelated API.
> Sorry, no way. That is just too idiotic.
>
> -hpa
>
You're being rather extreme. nsswitch.conf is the established way in
which subsystems which require access to name services can be configured
centrally depending on the name services in use on on a particular
client. On a fully integrated version of unix, you can migrate a client
from standalone (perhaps newly installed for example) to perhaps nis, and
be sure of `catching' any subsystem requiring to be told which name
services to refer to and in which order.
In Linux, autofs is something of the odd man out in this respect.
Pete.
