On Thu, 4 Feb 1999, Dave Mielke wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Jim Roland wrote:
> >Could one just recompile that .h file into the kernel and it could be
> >greater?
>
> It's not a kernel recompilation issue, as the kernel only ever deals with
> userid numbers. It's strictly a utility recompilation issue, e.g. whichever
> GETTYs you're using, LOGIN, USERADD, USERDEL, USERMOD, LINUXCONF, etc. As I've
Yo! Not kernel related at all. To the affected programs count ftp, xlock,
pppd, sliplogin (does it (still) exist for linux). If they are written
portable enough and use a common library, it would suffice to change that
library However, you'll probably have to recompile all the applications
then.
The 8 char limit applies to passwords too. There AFAIK, the original
shadow passwd suite supported longer pw's for example. To install it, you
had to recompile all apps as listed above.
So, basically, it is a pure application issue. I'd guess the currently
used progs are flexible enough s.t. you can just change it and recompile
(Alas, you've to recompile the C library too as it has some username
function, for ls listings and such.)
Also, there is something you don't have to forget: There is NIS too and
that means sharing usernames and passwords over a network. For this,
you'll have to stick to 8 char usernames, passwords and the std Unix crypt
function. AFAIK there also exist a more secure NIS variant (and other
systems for similar purposes like kerberos), which probably removes this
limitation.
Michael.
--
Michael Weller: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
or even [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you encounter an eowmob account on
any machine in the net, it's very likely it's me.
