Vincent McIntyre wrote:
*** Please type your report below this line ***
Hi
The nsswitch.conf(5) manpage does not explain how to override some fields in
/etc/passwd, with the compat option. In fact I could not easily find any
reference to the full +/- semantics mentioned in the page.
The patch below may improve the situation. Please consider applying it,
or something like it. I would be grateful if you could add a pointer
to the documentation for the full +/- semantics.
-- snip
--- nsswitch.conf.5.orig 2005-10-14 17:44:48.097267000 +1000
+++ nsswitch.conf.5 2005-10-14 18:16:14.582098000 +1000
@@ -207,7 +207,25 @@
(include the specified user from the NIS passwd map),
-user or [EMAIL PROTECTED] (exclude the specified user),
and + (include every user, except the excluded ones, from the NIS
-passwd map). Since most people only put a + at the end of
+passwd map).
+.LP
+The +/- syntax has a nice property: it is possible to selectively
+override certain fields in /etc/passwd, while taking the rest of the
+information from the NIS passwd map. For example you may have a user
+who should get a home directory local to the machine, rather than
+an NFS-automounted directory. In such a case you could put the line
+.sp
+.RS
+.nf
++fred:/local/fred:
+.fi
+.RE
+.PP
+in
+.B /etc/passwd, which will allow user 'fred' to login using their
+NIS password, but which will set their home directory to /local/fred.
+.LP
+Since most people only put a + at the end of
.B /etc/passwd
to include everything from NIS, the switch provides a faster
alternative for this case (`passwd: files nis') which doesn't
@@ -217,13 +235,14 @@
and
.BR /etc/shadow .
If this is not sufficient, the NSS `compat' service provides full
-+/- semantics. By default, the source is `nis', but this may be
++/- semantics (such as selective replacement of passwd entry elements).
+By default, the source is `nis', but this may be
overriden by specifying `nisplus' as source for the pseudo-databases
.BR passwd_compat,
.B group_compat
and
.BR shadow_compat.
-This pseudo-databases are only available in GNU C Library.
+These pseudo-databases are only available in the GNU C Library.
.SH FILES
A service named SERVICE is implemented by a shared object library named
.BI libnss_SERVICE.so. X
I'll add:
You can override certain passwd fields for a particular user from the
NIS passwd map by using the extended form of +user:: in
/etc/passwd. Non-empty fields override information in the NIS passwd
map.
Regards,
Joey
--
Life is too short to run proprietary software. -- Bdale Garbee
Please always Cc to me when replying to me on the lists.
Index: man5/nsswitch.conf.5
===
RCS file: /var/cvs/debian/manpages/man5/nsswitch.conf.5,v
retrieving revision 1.18
diff -u -p -r1.18 nsswitch.conf.5
--- man5/nsswitch.conf.528 Jan 2008 16:24:09 - 1.18
+++ man5/nsswitch.conf.530 Jan 2008 16:21:56 -
@@ -223,6 +223,12 @@ you could have entries of the form +user
\-user or [EMAIL PROTECTED] (exclude the specified user),
and + (include every user, except the excluded ones, from the NIS
passwd map).
+
+You can override certain passwd fields for a particular user from the
+NIS passwd map by using the extended form of +user:: in
+.IR /etc/passwd .
+Non-empty fields override information in the NIS passwd map.
+
Since most people only put a + at the end of
.I /etc/passwd
to include everything from NIS, the switch provides a faster
@@ -240,7 +246,7 @@ overridden by specifying `nisplus' as so
.B group_compat
and
.BR shadow_compat .
-This pseudo-databases are only available in GNU C Library.
+These pseudo-databases are only available in GNU C Library.
.SH FILES
A service named SERVICE is implemented by a shared object library named
.BI libnss_SERVICE.so. X
