Date: 04 Feb 2004 17:52:31 -0500 From: Lowell Gilbert <freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org> To: Vince Sabio <vince@vjs.org> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Cannot Add User Message-ID: <44hdy6bgpc.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> In-Reply-To: <p05200f0abc46dbfcced9@[68.24.1.250]> References: <p05200f02bc464ca9375d@[68.24.1.250]> <44n07zvsay.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> <p05200f0abc46dbfcced9@[68.24.1.250]>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Vince Sabio <vince@vjs.org> writes: > ** Sometime around 09:21 -0500 02/04/2004, Lowell Gilbert sent everyone: > >Vince Sabio <vince@vjs.org> writes: > > > >[...] > > > I'm now trying to install Postfix, and the problem I'm running into is > >> that I cannot create new user accounts. I created several user > >> accounts during installation, and they seem to be fine. But when I > >> [manually] create entries in /etc/passwd, master.passwd, and group, > >> the entries are 'ignored' -- e.g., a "chown [newuser] [filename]" > >> command fails, attempts to su from root into the user account fail, > >> etc. When I try to create the user via adduser (using the standard > >> defaults), the account creation step fails with the following error: > >> > > > pw: user '[newuser]' disappeared during update > > > >It sounds like you've messed up your user database. Try running > >pwd_mkdb(8) by hand to get it straightened out. In future, remember > >not to edit passwd and so forth by hand; stick with adduser(8) and/or > >vipw(8) to avoid shooting yourself in the foot like this. > > I have to wonder if this is unique to the BSDs; I've been using > Solaris for nearly a decade now, and the _only_ way I've ever created > user accounts is manually -- by editing /etc/passwd, shadow, and group > files, creating user directories, etc. I've never had a problem with > it before. (I'm pretty sure I've done the same under Linux, too.) Right. By default, FreeBSD uses databases to hold account information; the "passwd" file is present only for backward compatibility, and the "master.passwd" is used only as an *input* from which the databases are created. > Running adduser is fine for simple user accounts -- but there are few > user accounts on a typical server. The problem with adduser is that it > isn't well suited to things like accounts with no home directories or > login shells, disabled passwords (not the same as a locked account), > etc. Normally I do those directly with vipw(8). If I were automating those, I'd use pw(8). > Either way, I tried running pwd_mkdb -C /etc/passwd, and it reported a > format error on line 3 -- which happens to be the root account, and is > the first real data line in the file. That file has a slightly different format: you wanted "pwd_mkdb /etc/master.passwd" > Moreover, it's a line that I > didn't modify. It reported no errors on /etc/master.passwd, so I > copied and modified it into a passwd file -- and pwd_mkdb then > reported no errors on the new passwd file. However, that action also > prevented any new logins, and running passwd didn't fix the problem. Here we've got an actual problem. There were a number of chances for bogus data to creep into the file, but in case of future problems, note that master.passwd is among the things that gets automatically backed up into /var/backups. > So, after mucking around with pwd_mkdb for a while, I opted to simply > reinstall the OS -- it was still a rather new installation, and I > wanted to increase the /usr partition, anyway. After completing the > new FreeBSD installation, the first thing I did upon logging in was > run pwd_mkdb on /etc/passwd, and it still reported a format error on > line 3. I then manually added the necessary users, and this time the > postfix installation ran to completion. The postfix port adds all the necessary users for you, and does it correctly. [The next time you add a *real* new user, your postfix changes will be wiped out by pwd_mkdb.] > While it's possible that I messed up the format on the original try, > it's unlikely -- I checked it over a dozen times before going in > search of a FreeBSD list on which to ask the question. I'm thinking > that there might have been something else in the mix. But either way, > the clean install fixed it (though admittedly it was a rather > Draconian fix). Just use vipw(8) to make your changes to the password database, and all the tricky bits will be handled for you.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?44hdy6bgpc.fsf>