I am researching or trying to understand how I can understand why Debian developers decided to implement a fresh installation of Squeeze specifically with orphaned users listed in '/etc/passwd' file. What I mean is if I do a fresh 'minimal' installation of Debian Linux (Squeeze) and when I say 'minimal', I mean I de-select "Desktop Environment" & 'Standard System" options during software selection. So I de-select EVERYTHING and after logging in I find:
games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/bin/sh man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/bin/sh lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/bin/sh mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/bin/sh news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/bin/sh uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/bin/sh proxy:x:13:13:proxy:/bin:/bin/sh www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/bin/sh backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/bin/sh list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/bin/sh irc:x:39:39:ircd:/var/run/ircd:/bin/sh gnats:x:41:41:Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin):/var/lib/gnats:/bin/sh libuuid:x:100:101::/var/lib/libuuid:/bin/sh I'm trying to understand why Debian developers slip in 'games', 'lp', 'news', 'uucp', 'www-data', 'list', 'irc', etc etc etc. Now if I install 'Apache', 'CUPS', 'Exim/Postfix', etc etc etc then I understand why those accounts would appear but why do these accounts appear in a fresh minimal installation with no trace of their respected packages? I also label them as 'orphaned' because if you try to remove the user and their default home directory, you get an error that those directories don't exist. For example: userdel -r www-data = '/var/www' doesn't exist. Is there a way to understand why Debian is configured so by default? Are there official developers that browse this list that could give insight to maybe a security reason or any other as to why we have these 'orphaned' accounts in a fresh / new minimal install? Thanks! Many of you would just say, "...just remove what you do want" however in my opinion, the last thing someone needs to do after installing a fresh system is start removing stuff. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/aanlktin7dtkh3c-zy7ejfbaysxtaecvrtvh-1yvwr...@mail.gmail.com
