On Thursday 02 June 2005 03:40 pm, John Kelly wrote:

Sad thing is, that's likely the most cogent response I will see.

How is this for a cogent response?

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Why did suse drop nss_db from 9.3?  I don't want to switch to centos (redrat), but I need nss_db.  Bah!

We are merely users, like you. We do not know _why_ SuSE chose to drop nss_db. I understand your frustration at the loss of a feature you use, but if you're looking for an actual answer, this might not be the place to do it. Upon reading your initial post, I determined it to be a rant/vent and didn't feel it _needed_ a cogent response.

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You bozos.

Yes, because an insult, even as gentle an insult as "you bozos" is exactly the way to coax a response from a group of tech minded people. That being said, I'm sure you can figure out _some_ way of installing nss_db on SuSE 9.3, or did Novell replace the kernel with something that wasn't Linux? -- __________ CorvusE: Linux User #370082 live free. die free. use free software.

On Thursday 02 June 2005 21:40, John Kelly wrote:

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* John Kelly [06-02-05 13:41]:

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Why did suse drop nss_db from 9.3? I don't want to switch to centos (redrat), but I need nss_db. Bah!

You bozos.

*Your* good health and well-being are top of our list, too.

Sad thing is, that's likely the most cogent response I will see.

Probably not. If you are so good, download the source and compile it. Seems that is an option. And if that doesn't work, don't let the door hit you on the backside on the way to centos, or whatever.. Mike -- Powered by SuSE 9.3 Kernel 2.6.11 KDE 3.4.0 Kmail 1.8 For Mondo/Mindi backup support go to http://www.mikenjane.net/~mike 10:02pm up 3 days 5:24, 5 users, load average: 2.20, 2.23, 2.25

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 10:01:03 +0200, Thorsten Kukuk wrote:

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Why did suse drop nss_db from 9.3?

Use nscd. Does the same

No it does not. I wonder why you sweep the facts under the rug. And worse, nscd leaks user information, which is unacceptable in my environment. When /etc/passwd and the user db files are not world readable, unprivileged users cannot get a list of other users. But with nscd running, any unprivileged user can write a trivial C program to list all users on the system, despite the fact that /etc/passwd and the user db files are *not* world readable. Want to see the silly and trivial code?

libdb libraries, which always change in an incompatible way.

If it's just too tiring for Novell to keep pace with the market leader, I understand. -- The sturgeon general says don't smoke fish

On Sun, 05 Jun 2005 20:13:33 -0500, Patrick Shanahan wrote:

please just go away. Your absence will be refreshing.

I'll go away when I'm good and ready. But in the meantime, if I'm disturbing your little mutual admiration society, you can try ignoring my posts.

On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 07:50:58 +0200, Thorsten Kukuk wrote:

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When /etc/passwd and the user db files are not world readable, unprivileged users cannot get a list of other users.

A simple /bin/ls will also fail.

No; it returns the numeric userid instead of a name. But since each user already knows their own name, and sees only their own files, that is not a "failure" in my environment.

If /etc/passwd is not world readable, you can also delete it and don't need it.

No, it serves its purpose, except that users see their numeric userid instead of their user name, when listing their own files with /bin/ls. The user shell and other programs encounter the same restriction, but I've taken steps to minimize the impact on the user experience, and the users are satisfied.

And your method makes it only a little bit harder to get the list of users, not impossible.

No one, except root, has succeeded yet. Though I wonder how you presume to know all about my method.

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nscd leaks user information

This is pure FUD.

When /etc/passwd is not world readable, it's a fact. But believe whatever you like.

getent passwd. It is a well defined interface to list all users. No need to write a C program for that.

It's nice you wrote getent. But for unprivileged users, it too, does *not* return the list of users when /etc/passwd is not world readable.

I know more then you about this

So you say. But claiming nscd does the same as nss_db, is FUD. I see Redhat has support for selinux in their version of nss_db; it must require some effort to keep pace with them. So if you're tired of packaging nss_db for Novell, I understand. But I wonder why you can't be bothered to simply use the work Redhat already did for you; aren't we all one happy GPL family? -- The sturgeon general says don't smoke fish