Re: Why does Debian use a nonstandard chsh?
On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, Robert Woodcock wrote:
> Jor-el wrote:
> > 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.
>
> Not necessarily.
>
True. But I thought I was saying the same when I used the words
"_could_ result".
> > 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.
>
> That person would be me.
>
> Please read http://www.debian.org/releases/slink/running-kernel-2.2
> for the rundown on what breaks.
>
Thanks.
> > 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.
>
> Does this fix anything besides a documentation bug?
>
Yes, this could be fixed via documentation. I think, however, that
this is a short term approach. The real fix would be to make the Debian
'chsh' option compatible with the mainstream one. Why would you _want_ to
maintain an incompatibility when it can be removed?
Regards,
Jor-el
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