Help: mixed up passwords/files
I've wondered for some time about the strange ownership I see of some
files/directories. I think I've worked out the cause, but am not sure
what to do to fix it.
To step back a few years. I started a LAN when my son and I came into
conflict over who would get to use the phone line for the Net. The
obvious solution was a LAN. I'd forgotten that, naturally, in that
system (call it Deb2.4) I put myself down as the first user and then my
son. After adding my wife and daughter I had:
tim.x.1000:1000
justin.x.1001:1001
jan.x.1002:1002
riss.x.1003:1003
I wanted to see if I could get a 2.6 kernel working, but wanted to
ensure a stable system. Both my son and daughter have "flown the coop",
and I'm away a lot of the time. I decided to set-up a knew partition
using a 2.6 kernel, let's call it Deb2.6. I quickly realised that I
would end up with mail etc. spread over multiple partitions, so I
decided to make /home a separate partition.
Eventually I was confident in the 2.6 kernel and started using 2.6.7 on
Deb2.4. I then, recently, came across SimplyMEPIS (a Debian based
distribution) and decided to give it a try on the Deb2.6 partition. I,
again, used the same /home partition as on Deb2.4. I only added myself,
wife and daughter, as my son is on the other side of the continent,
ending up with:
tim:x:1000:100
jan:x:1001:0
riss:x:1002:0
On my Deb2.4 system the only user who seems to own all his/her owns
files in the Home directory, is myself. My wife's shows a mix of
ownership between herself and justin, which I attribute to having made
justin 1001 on Deb2.4 but jan 1001 on Deb2.6.
I'm not sure why they should be wrong on Deb2.4 but suspect it happened
when I moved /home to it's own partition.
If it is the simplest solution I'd be willing to re-install Mepis on
Deb2.6.
Mepis is the first distribution to correctly detect the VIA vt8235
Southbridge and Realtek ALS650 codec, on my desktop.
I've tried changing ownership of jan's files a multitude of times. I'd
guess they have been changed back every time I changed to Deb2.6.
I'm running Sid on both a AthlonXP based system and on a laptop. As the
sole user of the laptop, the problem has not occurred.
I'd welcome suggestions on the best way to fix this. I am using shadow
passwords.
TIA,
Tim
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