On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 13:56, WipeOut wrote: > Emiliano Brunetti wrote: > >>>> I already digged maillist, i understand why cannot be dot in the username > >>>>while i "adduser", my Q is that if there is some workaround or some patch, i really need to allow dot in usernames > >>>>it is to ugly to modify /etc/pass entry's. > >>>> I looket too at src.rpms i coud not figure out where to touch, i see no redhatish patch wich remove the dot feauture > >>>>and in tarball is difficult to find out. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>For what reason should it be good to have dots in usernames to be > >>>allowed? Any real good reason? > >>> > >>>Dots are at least forbidden charactes in usernames and groupnames as > >>>chown will fail with such names. > >>> > >>My reason was to make it possible for a user with the email address > >>"first.last@xxxxxxxxxx", which is out company standard convention for > >>email addresses, to log into their mail box with "first.last".. That way > >>they don't get confused about their email address and user name (as > >>users often do).. These users do not log into the system shell as they > >>are only for mail.. > >> > >Just for my own info, but couldn't this be solved by authenticating mail > >users in a different way? I used to do this by authenticating on mysql > >rahter than normal system auth, so that i had almost no local user on > >mail server. Of course this is not viabile if your users also need to > >log on the mail server for some reason. > > > Yes, I guess using a MySQL db would have been the best way but since RH > never provided the mail server componenets that were capable of > conneting and using a MySQL DB for the mail accounts and I don't trust > my abilities in building custom packages and keeping them updated when a > security problem is found I had to use system accounts for my mail users.. Man, don't worry. ;) It is relatively simple if you start from srpms. I could do it and the system is still up and running, no holes nor spam til now (crossing fingers and touching wood! :)). My programming skills are definitely low, but i could sort it out. Indeed you should be learning something new and try out several times, with different types of failures on the way. It took me some time too. But i guess it is worth of it. As to keep custom packages updated: you are right. But once it compiled and it working, much of the effort is done and most of times you just need recompiling with specs you already have somewhere. HTH E.
