Having a look to the source of each implementation reveals the fundamental difference between the two implementations of the so called `login' program/command: The "shadow" variant only logs in the new user and cares about initializing(parts of) the environment, whereas the "util-linux" implementation additionally initializes a new controlling terminal. This change in behavior defends using the `login' commands from within running terminal sessions and changes its character to an true initial access command. Unfortunately, the Debian Linux Release Notes do not mention this disruptive change in functional behavior anywhere and the admin is in best luck. This is not the only unattended change, experienced system administrators had and have to strugglewith during the last funny release cycles of Debian Linux. And the way IT goes Sebastian Kraus On 10/7/25 07:03, Sebastian Kraus wrote:
Thanks for the very, very, very helpful reply. A short check regarding the sources of the "login deb-package" shows that the old implementation fromthe "shadow-utils" source (https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow) has been superseeded by the new implementation from the "util-linux" source (https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux). Both show a completely different behavior wrt. the PAM stack. Regards Sebastian Kraus _______________________ Sebastian Kraus Technische Universität Berlin Fakultät II Institut für Chemie Sekretariat C3 Straße des 17. Juni 135 10623 Berlin
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