Niklas S�derlund <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > btw, shouldn't shadow-passwords be default?
shadow-passwords breaks some things. A user should be able to run a program that verifies that a given string matches the user's own password. Examples of programs that need to do that are xlock, and personal non-root ssh servers. With traditional shadow passwords, you can't do that, the programs either have to be setuid root (or setgid shadow or some such), or the user needs to maintain his own passwd file, which is inconvenient. Last time I installed a debian system, the installation program asked me if I wanted shadow passwords or not. On the Hurd, such programs could of course query the passwd server instead, so we could use shadow passwords with no problems, but with subtly different security properties than traditional unix. Except for posix compatibility (like the getspnam function, if that's really defined by posix?), shadow could be considered an implementation detail of the passwd server. /Niels -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
