Re: User Name Not Allowed

[Hal Vaughan <hal@thresholddigital.com>]

On Sunday 19 August 2007, Franz Pletz wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 09:23:45PM -0400, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> > I installed Etch on a computer for my Mother today and it wouldn't
> > allow me to use "hal."  On all my email accounts and other accounts
> > on all the systems I deal with, I've always used the name "hal,"
> > but now it's not allowed.
>
> The hal user was previously used by the Hardware Abstraction Layer
> daemon. Since 0.5.7.1-1 it's called haldaemon and since 0.5.7.1-2 the
> old hal user is ensured to get removed in postinst of the package. So
> the system should allow you to create this user.
>
> > Is there a way around this?  Can I get my name back?  It seems
> > shortsighted to create systems that create a username like this. 
> > It's not as common as john or jane, but it's a well known name that
> > it seems likely people would be using to log in with.
>
> Please verify you're running Etch/stable and your version of hal is
> greater than 0.5.7.1-1, i.e. using dpkg -l hal. If it is, you can
> safely remove any existing hal system user using deluser --system hal
> and create your own.

I just downloaded the Etch Net install today and that was what I used.  
I can double check it, but I followed the links to it from the main 
page.  Here's the link to the full CD:

http://ftp.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/debian-cd/4.0_r0/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r0-i386-CD-1.iso

And here's the one to the net install:

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r0/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r0-i386-netinst.iso

I admit that I do miss the obvious at times, but isn't Etch 4.0r0?

> That user, however, shouldn't have existed in the first place...

I know it was on some other versions, but I'm glad to know it won't be a 
long term issue.

It may seem small, but I'm sure anyone with experience will know what 
kind of little niggling irritations can pop up in having to deal with a 
different account name on some systems or services than on others.

Hal