Subject: RE: md5-encrypted password file with NetBSD?
To: Bill Dorsey <dorsey@lila.com>
From: David Brownlee <abs@netbsd.org>
List: port-alpha
Date: 03/28/2000 22:55:21
On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Bill Dorsey wrote:

> I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no way this is going
> to work.  NetBSD uses the traditional Unix DES-based encryption scheme
> to encrypt user passwords, salting the result and storing it in the
> password file after converting to ascii using a process not unlike
> uuencoding.
> 
> Any non-traditional (read: non-DES-based) password encryption scheme
> will be incompatible with NetBSD (and other versions of Unix like
> Solaris or Linux that use the standard DES-based algorithm).  Insofar
> as being able to cut and paste entries between the two types of
> password files, it's just not possible.
> 
> An alternative scheme you might consider is to use a network-based
> authentication process such as yellow pages or Kerberos.  These will
> allow you to have a single password file on a master machine which
> will allow access to any machine in the network configured to use
> them.

	Though if anyone ported the FreeBSD code across I don't see
	any reason why it couldn't be added to the NetBSD tree...


		David/absolute