Re: Why does Debian use a nonstandard chsh?
Jim,
I referred to 'nonstandard' in two contexts : functionality, and
option-level compatibility. As regards the functionality (the physical
implemenation, not the logical function), your reply tells me why it is
different from the version available on metalab. But there is still no
reason why the Debian version should not maintain option-level
compatibility with the other version. The Debian version only recognises
the '-s' flag. The metalab version recognises the '-s', '-l', '-u', and
'-v' flags.
Why is this important? Because, whenever a kernel developer uses
'chsh' for some purpose, if the flags that he uses are not compatible with
the version that Debian uses, then a breakage in Debian could result. This
means more work for some Debian developer.
Also, when someone says, "for this level of the kernel, you need
this version of software x", someone in Debian needs to be tracking this
to understand the version requirements and to ensure that the Debian
version of package x indeed satisfies the kernel developers requirements.
In this specific case, wouldnt it be a good idea to introduce a
chsh into the mainstream which handles, both shadow-password and
non-shadow-password enabled systems? That way, incompatibility with the
mainstream can be removed.
Regards,
Jor-el
On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, Jim Lynch wrote:
> Hi...
>
> How do you mean 'nonstandard'? chsh comes from the shadow passwd suite. If
> you have that installed, you're not using the other one. How is this a
> problem? The passwd file is in a different form than in most dists (which
> don't use the shadow passwd suite). Any command that modifies any part of
> the passwd database ought to be grouped together, so it can be modified
> together and maintained together.
>
> Using the one from metalab will break up the set, and so introduce entropy
> into a place it very definitely doesn't belong.
>
> Take a look at the shadow passwd suite source for other bins that are a part
> of the login/passwd/group database manipulation set, so you can see how it
> operates.
>
> -Jim
>
>
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