On 17 Nov 1999, Vadim Belman wrote:
> Recently I answered a question concerning maximum valid UID
> value. I had created a new user with UID 1000000 using pw
> utility. Everything went smoothly, but pwd_mkdb warned about
> creation of UID bigger than 65535. I found this piece of code in
> /usr/src/usr.sbin/pwd_mkdb/pw_scan.c:
>
> if (id > USHRT_MAX) {
> warnx("%s > max uid value (%d)", p, USHRT_MAX);
> /*return (0);*/ /* THIS SHOULD NOT BE FATAL! */
> }
>
> I see only one reason for this: for keeping compatibility with old
> utilities which don't use uid_t but relay on unsigned short
> values. Am I right? Is there any other reason? Or, perhaps, this
> code is obsolete and may be removed without harm?
I expect that there are many problems with uids > 65535. 16 bit uids
are assumed by many protocols and data formats.
For instance, NFSv2 wouldn't support uids > 65535. A lot of people are
still using NFSv2, and should be warned about possible problems.
> --
> /Voland Vadim Belman
> E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tom
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