Re: xdm passwordless logins

[Tobias Nygren <tnn%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Thu, 29 Oct 2020 08:10:23 +0000
nia <nia%NetBSD.org@localhost> wrote:

> hi,
> 
> xdm is configured by default to disallow logins from accounts
> without a password set. this is different to how ttys work,
> and means if you have root with no password set you can't
> login to the system
> 
> is this intentional?

I think it is intentional, by historical convention.
If xdm is configured to respond to network queries via XDMCDP, as was
common in the old age, it opens up possibility of remote logins without
a password. It is different from for example sshd remote logins where
there is a "PermitEmptyPasswords no" default.