[gentoo-dev] Re: New adduser and deluser features suggestions

[Paul <set@pobox.com>]

Volker Dierks <v.dierks@sonic.homeunix.net>, on Wed Jul 17, 2002 [02:15:45 PM] said:
> Christian Axelsson wrote:
> >This is the features I would like to see in a new adduser (and deluser) 
> >package:
> <SNIP>
> hmm, sorry. I've no comments to the features but I've a problem
> to add my personal useraccount to a gentoo system. I've posted
> the question to the gentoo-user maillinglist but got no answer.
> Perhaps someone on the dev list can give me a answer. My normal
> useraccount uses a dot (f. e. f.bar).
> useradd -c "Foo Bar" -d /home/f.bar -u 500 -g 200 -s /bin/bash f.bar
> useradd: invalid user name 'f.bar'
> 
> This is a example. My real username has 8 characters (with the
> dot). Whitout the dot, useradd works fine.
> 
> Does anyone know where I must drive the screw? /etc/login.defs
> isn't it. Are the pam modules denying a dot?
> 
> Thanks, Volker

	Hi;

	Well, the *bsd man page on passwd(5) has this to say:

...
     The login name must never begin with a hyphen (`-'); also,
it is strongly suggested that neither upper-case characters nor
dots (`.') be part of the name, as this tends to confuse mailers.
...

	You can always use things like vipw to force the issue;
sorry I doubt there is another way without simply hacking
useradd...

Paul
set@pobox.com