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Re: security questions



On Sat, 28 Oct 2000 10:06:56 PDT, Peter Jay Salzman writes:
>also, i noticed that some accounts which are disabled are given a shell of
>/bin/false:
>
>	ftp:x:100:65534::/home/ftp:/bin/false
>
>tiger seemed to hate this too.  i tried playing around with /bin/false.
>can't seem to figure out what it is.  whatever it is, it's tiny.  only 4 kb
>long.


there are /bin/true (which gives a return code of 0 when run) and /bin/
 false (which returns 1) (both values IIRC). very handy if you want to 
 do something like `if (<bla> || /bin/true)` for some reason.
giving a shell with /bin/false effectively disables the account´s
 possibility to get a login shell, but (as in case with ftp) shouldn´t
 hinder other services (eg ftp, pop3, .forward etc.).

all of the above is in theory, because I tried that some time 
 ago but couldn´t get an ftp-login when the shell was /bin/false, but I 
 remember reading about it somewhere...

&rw
-- 
/  Ing. Robert Waldner  | Network Engineer | T: +43 1 89933  F: x533 \ 
\ <Waldner@KPNQwest.at> |    KPNQwest/AT   | Diefenbachg. 35, A-1150 / 




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