Re: uid/gid

[Andreas Jellinghaus <aj@dungeon.inka.de>]

> If I use static ids 0-99, they're set, both numbers and names. I can be
> sure, that on every debian system they're assigned the same (or
> unassigned, in case of older systems, and via dependencies I can force
> base-passwd to be updated) - stated in policy 3.2.

we should target compatibility to all other linux distributions.
it is very easy in this case: don't use static id's. use dynamic.
this way your package can be imported to a different distribution,
and with little work it will work there, too.

other distributions will use dynamic user id's, too. and so we
remove another incompatibility between distributions.

also if you have a large, heterogenous environment with different unix'es:
for nfs you need to have common user id's on all machines. another reason
for dynamic user ids.

> Is there (or will there be) a mechanism to _assure_ that no other package
> (with possible exception of conflicting ones), nor local admin will use my
> group/user name?

this is easy: use useradd or adduser to create an entry in /etc/passwd.
these programs should return an error, if the user already exists.
why don't you try on your system ?

andreas