Re: [gentoo-dev] [RFC] Reserve slurm user and group uid/gid 500/500

[Michael Orlitzky <mjo@gentoo.org>]

On 8/23/19 3:45 PM, Michał Górny wrote:
>>
>> That used to be acceptable, since the "enewuser" command with the home
>> directory was part of the package that used that directory. But now that
>> the user data are in another package, we can't depend on them reliably.
>>
> 
> ...and why is that, exactly?  Are you assuming that someone will take
> over the dedicated user for another purpose and change its home
> directory?
> 

The fact that the home directory can change is a feature that you
yourself went out of the way to support. We can't rely on the value of
ACCT_USER_HOME in a dependency, and nothing is gained by doing so -- so
why do it? That's one reason.

It also greatly simplifies the guidelines. Have you ever refactored
something and had it just feel right? This just feels right. I think
most developers don't care about these details and would just like to
get the job done. If we can give them a list of a few simple guidelines
to follow, then everyone's happy.

If we put the keepdir/fowners/fperms in the logically-correct place, it
allows us to also say: don't use a home directory owned by another
package (use the default). That in turn prevents acct-user packages from
clobbering the permissions and ownership on stuff that belongs to
somebody else. All pros, no cons.