On Thu, 22 Nov 2001, Alistair Crooks wrote:
> > Um, no: make useradd (etc.) not impose any artificial restrictions on
> > login names, that's all.  I'm not proposing to change any of the programs
> > that deal with usernames - login, ftpd, telnetd, sshd, passwd, whatever do
> > stay where they are.
> 
> useradd is the point of entry to the system for these login names.
> It is hardly an artificial restriction. And the question still
> stands - why does the name on the NetBSD system have to the same
> as that on the foreign system?

*sigh* 
Let's get constructive on that: what is our login name policy?
Clearly it's not written down, so I guess we have to find out and
implement it. 

Until that happens (sure not by me!), let's try to make things not less
restrictive than needed. 

The "still standing" question above is or no matter here - it doesn't
matter if samba or something else wants some special login or not. If the
admin has a need for it, give him the rope. You cannot change all userland
application code on this planet to be "sane".


> That is obviously from a later version of Solaris than the one I
> was using. And the  fact that they reserve the right to refuse
> admission to dubious usernames which are entered now should ring
> alarm bells for you.
> 
> 	``Look guys, I've installed Solaris 10 for you!''
> 	``Thanks, but I can't log in.''
> 	``Oh yes, that's because they made your login name illegal.''

This may  happen, or it may not. I tend to stick to common sense here for
now, instead of guessing of what may happen. See "rope".


> I would like to know how you plan to deal with people who put ':' in
> the new login name, or '/', for example.

Print a warning that this may lead to trouble. 
See "login policy" above. 

I have implemented the warnings, and will post diffs here in a second.
Stay tuned! :-)


 - Hubert

-- 
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