Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 09:37:32 -0500 From: john@dexter.starfire.mn.org (John Lind) To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: login name limits Message-ID: <Mutt.19970819093732.john@dexter.starfire.mn.org>
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OK, I'm a little confused here. The kernel sys param for maximum login name length (MAXLOGNAME) is 12, even though the utmp/wtmp structure element for that (UT_NAMESIZE) is limited to 12. I don't have a problem with that... If you need to use long names, you have to realize that they will be truncated 8 characters. Perhaps not what one would want in an ideal world, but hey, we live with compromises every day. vipw, and the getpw functions, and su all get along fine with longer login names. My problem is this: login (from FreeBSD 2.1.0 through 2.2.2 -- the widest range I had conveniently available to me) explicitly truncates the the login name to UT_NAMESIZE before authenticating (*EVEN THOUGH* the size is taken into account where the utmp/wtmp structures are filled), making it impossible to directly log in as a user with a login longer than 8 characters (e.g. "hostmaster"). I changed our 2.2.2 system login program to truncate at MAXLOGNAME instead, and so far, all is well. If no-one knows of a reason not to do this, I'll try to submit a diff to someone... John Lind, Starfire Consulting Services E-mail: john@starfire.MN.ORG USnail: PO Box 17247, Mpls MN 55417
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