Control: merge 471691 -1
On 2017-09-13 19:34 +0200, Sven Joachim wrote:
> On 2013-09-09 17:51 -0400, Eric Cooper wrote:
>
>> Package: base-passwd
>> Version: 3.5.28
>> Severity: normal
>>
>> I had removed the gnats account on my system since I had no use for
>> it, not realizing that it was one of the "standard" ones. On the next
>> upgrade of base-passwd, it prompted me as follows:
>>
>> Setting up base-passwd (3.5.28) ...
>>
>> update-passwd has found some differences between your system accounts
>> and the current Debian defaults. It is advisable to allow update-passwd
>> to change your system; without those changes some packages might not work
>> correctly. For more documentation on the Debian account policies please
>> see /usr/share/doc/base-passwd/README.
>>
>> The list of proposed changes is:
>>
>> Adding group "gnats" (41)
>> Adding user "gnats" (41)
>> Would commit 2 changes
>>
>> It is highly recommended that you allow update-passwd to make these
>> changes
>> (a backup file of modified files is made with the extension .org so you
>> can
>> always restore the current settings).
>>
>> May I update your system? [Y/n]
>> Okay, I am going to make the necessary updates now
>> Adding group "gnats" (41)
>> Adding user "gnats" (41)
>> 2 changes have been made, rewriting files
>> Writing passwd-file to /etc/passwd
>> Writing shadow-file to /etc/shadow
>> Writing group-file to /etc/group
>>
>> But in fact no gnats entry was made to /etc/shadow:
>>
>> # pwck -q
>> no matching password file entry in /etc/shadow
>> add user 'gnats' in /etc/shadow? y
>> pwck: the files have been updated
>
> Indeed. I had a look at the update-passwd source, and there are
> functions read_shadow and write_shadow to read and write the shadow
> file, but nowhere is there any code to process new/deleted/changed
> entries in it. So write_shadow will write back /etc/shadow with the
> same content read_shadow had read.
Going through the bug list again, I found that the problem had already
been reported as #471691.
Cheers,
Sven
