>> > Running the xdm binary and NetBSD 1.1B, I am really root as reported
>> > by id -p and zsh's LOGNAME, that is: uid at login time. I first
>> > noticed it when playing tetris, when the new high score was attributed
>> > to root :)
>> 
>>  I've noticed the same with both startx on console and remote MacX (xterm 
>> started via rexec). uid is me, but login is root. For example ftp thinks 
>> I'm root. Running ssh -v shows me:
>>
>> ssh_connect: getuid 666 geteuid 0 anon 0
>> 
>>  My zsh shows LOGNAME correctly though.
>> 
>>  This is NetBSD/mac68k-current with an oldish userland, so this isn't 
>> sun3-specific.

>I noticed this, too, when I tried to change my password!  Even though I 
>was logged in as myself, the getlogin() call in passwd determined that I 
>was root, and therefore wouldn't let me change my own passwd just by 
>typing passwd.  I finally figured out that I could type passwd <username> 
>and that worked just fine!

This starts to hit at the root of the problem - I noticed that when all of the 
passwd* files in /etc weren't in sync with each other, everybody who logged in
(no matter what username/password they used) seemed to be uid 0. The solution 
to my problem was to only add/remove users with vipw.