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Date:      Fri, 2 Feb 2001 08:08:06 GMT
From:      Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net>
To:        "gerald stoller" <gerald_stoller@hotmail.com>, gene_dinkey@hp.com, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   RE: UID at login time
Message-ID:  <E14ObGI-000AJS-00@post.mail.nl.demon.net>

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> 
> 
> 
> >From: "DINKEY,GENE (HP-Loveland,ex1)" To: "'gerald stoller'" , 
> >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: UID at login time Date: Thu, 1 
> >Feb 2001 16:41:31 -0700
> >
> > > -----Original Message----- > From: gerald stoller 
> >[mailto:gerald_stoller@hotmail.com] > Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 
> >2:32 PM > To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > Subject: UID at login time
> >

> 
>      I used  vi /etc/passwd ; after seeing 'vipw' in your email, I recall 
> seeing it mentioned in my reading about  FreeBSD , and I thought it was just 
> a safety feature at the time (e.g., it wouldn't let you modift the password 
> field).  I have since used  vipw  and the problem is gone.  Thanks for your 
> help.
>      This system (of having both  master.passwd  &  passwd ) is not the 
> right way to provide a safeguard, IMHO.  

This is not the reason for the existance of master.passwd.
It is is security feature, not a backup procedure.
This is an implementation of shadow passwords. The real
ecnrypted passwords are kept in the master.passwd file, which
is only readable by root. 
The passwd file is world readable (it has to be) but should not contain
the encrypted passwords in order to prevent brute force crackign attempts
on user passwords.

Hence "vipw".

Cliff




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