Another predefined group in /etc/group: ups?

[Shaul Karl <shaulk@israsrv.net.il>]

Since there is a justifiable tendency to restrict the number of predefined 
groups in /etc/group I would like to get some comments about having a new ups 
(Uninterruptable Power Supply) group.

Although I am currently not a devel I am raising this issue because I am 
considering to install nut (www.exploits.org/nut) on my debian system. It 
seems that this package considers security from the early stages of its devel, 
and quite right since it contain executables that allow other systems to get 
information through the net. For example, you can see the statuses of various 
upss that is managed by the package author on www.exploits.org/cgi-bin/ups/mult
imon.cgi.

This is only a preliminary inquiry about the possibility of having a ups entry 
in /etc/group. However, beside my impression that the nut package imply that 
this is desirable I can point out:
1) Most small and medium scale upss seems to communicate with a single master 
machine through a serial port. Letting this port have the dialout gid or, in 
fact, any other gid does not seem appropriate to me.
2) There is an unofficial deb of a previous version of the nut at 
ftp://ftp.botik.ru/pub/local/sizif/nut. Although I have not tried to install 
it (yet?) it is evident that the packager (Yury Shevchuk <sizif@botik.ru>), 
who is not a debian devel, thought that having this group is desirable if not 
unavoidable.


Are there other methods to deal with it? In particular, is there a suitable 
group in the current /etc/group?


BTW: Yury Shevchuk <sizif@botik.ru> wrote me that he is no longer interested 
to maintain a deb version of the nut and that Luca Filipozzi 
<lfilipoz@emyr.net> is willing to prepare an officail deb. Yet I could not 
locate Luca Filipozzi <lfilipoz@emyr.net> in the developers database. In 
addition he still has not reply my query about his intention to debianize the 
nut. I also could not locate in the mailing list archive the message that I 
believe someone sent about his ITP the nut. There for, my conclusion is that 
currently no one {seems interested, has time} to package the nut. Am I right?
-- 
Shaul Karl		 		   shaulk@israsrv.net.il
	An elephant is a mouse with an operating system.