Restoring users
I got a tip from a linux security freak that to increase the security
of my box, I should delete all unnessecary users and groups. I did
that, however, I seem to have deleted a little too much.
exim4-config complains that user uucp does not exist and thus doesn't
configure itself, and this makes bunch of other packages not configure
themselves.
I've tried using adduser --system to add it again, but it gives this error:
useradd: unable to open password file
adduser: `/usr/sbin/useradd -d /home/uucp -g nogroup -s /bin/false -u
106 uucp' returned error code 1. Aborting.
I've doing tried doing dpkg-reconfigure base-passwd, but that gives
the following output:
update-passwd has found some differences between your system accounts
and the current Debian defaults. It is advisable to allow update-passwd
to change your system; without those changes some packages might not work
correctly. For more documentation on the Debian account policies please
see /usr/share/doc/base-passwd/README.
The list of proposed changes is:
Adding group "uucp" (10)
Adding group "proxy" (13)
Adding group "fax" (21)
Adding group "tape" (26)
Adding group "dip" (30)
Adding group "operator" (37)
Adding user "sync" (4)
Adding user "uucp" (10)
Adding user "proxy" (13)
Adding user "nobody" (65534)
Would commit 10 changes
It is highly recommended that you allow update-passwd to make these changes
(a backup file of modified files is made with the extension .org so you can
always restore the current settings).
May I update your system? [Y/n] Y
Okay, I am going to make the necessary updates now
Adding group "uucp" (10)
Adding group "proxy" (13)
Adding group "fax" (21)
Adding group "tape" (26)
Adding group "dip" (30)
Adding group "operator" (37)
Adding user "sync" (4)
Adding user "uucp" (10)
Adding user "proxy" (13)
Adding user "nobody" (65534)
10 changes have been made, rewriting files
Writing passwd-file to /etc/passwd
Error making backupfile /etc/passwd.org: Operation not permitted
How can it not have access to write to that file? I run as root!
Regards, Alexander Toresson
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