I think you should just use LDAP or NIS.
Frank Griffin wrote:
> I try to keep all user data on non-release-sensitive partitions (e.g.
> /data/user/xxx) and then have scripts to create links within /home/user
> to the real files. The idea is that I can create new systems or cooker
> systems at will, run the scripts, mount the partitions (or copies
> thereof), and test.
>
> Something I find frustrating from release to release is the creation of
> userids. If I do a true install, there doesn't seem to be any way to
> point MDK to another system partition and say "go copy the usernames,
> UIDs, groupnames, and GIDs from here" in order to "seed" the new
> system's directory. Moreover, even if I re-enter the IDs in the same
> order, the UIDs change slightly from release to release.
>
> This happens because several of the user management GUI tools
> automatically assign the UID or GID and do not allow overrides. Thus,
> if any >500 automatically cretaed UIDs change from release to release,
> you can't easily force IDs you define to have the same UIDs they had in
> the previous system, e.g. the addition of "admin" in 9.1 (and its
> removal now in Cooker).
>
> Is there a sensible way to import user/group data from an existing
> install ? If not, should there be ? If there can't be, can we at least
> establish a UID and GID range that belongs to the sysadmin and doesn't
> get messed with ?
