[Reduced To-Header to point to debian-devel and only cc base-passwd.]
On 01-08-07 Joey Hess wrote:
> uucp:
> HELP: Presumably used for UUCP, which I know nothing of.
This user is used by the uucp (Unix-to-Unix-Copy) software, which is
often used to transfer e-Mails and Usenet Postings in a Batch from one
pc to an other. Maybe Peter (Palfrader) can add some more information,
since I currently don't use uucp.
> HELP: Why is minicom owned by group uucp? Is this a bug?
Hm, I don't think that this is necessary.
> proxy:
>
> Like daemon, this user and group is used by some daemons
> (specifically, proxy daemons) that don't have dedicated user id's
> and that need to own files. For example, group proxy is used by
> pdnsd.
>
> HELP: What uses user proxy?
Also used by wwwoffle.
> postgres:
> HELP: Presumably used by the postgresql database?
Yes, it seems to use it for dumping the database and also for running
under this user id instead of root.
> www-data:
> HELP: Er, I should know this, but this box doesn't run apache and
> I'm offline.
This user is used by the apache webserver to run as and also all files
that apache should serve should be owned by www-data, if I'm not
mistaken.
> adm:
> HELP: On my system, use of group adm is confined entirely to
> /var/log, and I've never seen the point. Oh, and
> /dev/xconsole is owned by group adm, but that may be a
> (local?) bogosity.
I think this group has been created to give people the possibility to
read some logfiles in /var/log without needing root privileges or being
in group root. That way the logfiles just need to be owned by group
root with read permission and the user in this group to read the
logfile.
> sudo:
> HELP: Nothing uses it here, and I have sudo installed.. Maybe
> there's a way to only let users in this group use sudo?
Yes, this group could be the same group as described in the
documentation as group "wheel", which I like as name a bit more. You can
set up sudo via pam_wheel so that only members of this group are allowed
to use sudo.
Christian
--
Debian Developer (http://www.debian.org)
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