Subject: Re: What prints "you don't exist, go away?"

From: [email-masked] (Bruce Perens)
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 96 14:53 PDT

> dip and talk do similar things (and print the same message).

I suggest that they print something like
"permission denied: no record for user-ID %d in /etc/passwd". We aren't
attempting security through obscurity, which may have been the goal of
this message. Should I file a bug on dip and talk?

> That might be a problem. I think the /etc/shutdown.allow feature needs
> a correct passwd file.

I hear libc 5 getpwent() is better about skipping malformed passwd
records, so the other issues (telnet, rlogin, shutdown.allow) may be
moot.

> Changing one of the oldest unix messages? Hmm... :-))

I don't like that message either. I don't see a reason to cast it in
concrete. I have my doubts about its antiquity, too. V6 Unix said
"Intruder alert" in these situations.

Richard will attempt to err on the side of openness rather than security.
I have no problem with standing up for security, but he's correct when he
says the message is unhelpful, and I would prefer to repair that.

	Thanks

	Bruce
--
                       Re-Elect Clinton/Gore '96

Bruce Perens AB6YM          [email-masked]            http://www.hams.com/

---

From: [email-masked] (Bruce Perens)
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 96 12:00 PDT

From: Miquel van Smoorenburg <[email-masked]>
> I don't know why but I took over the habit. The suit-and-tie code would be
> "Your userid (%d) couldn't be mapped to a name in the password file",
> getuid()

Please fix this when you have the chance. Consider the plight of those poor
novices installing Linux, and _what_they_say_ when these things happen to
them. Bad messages make for bad public relations.

> Anyway I've fixed it not to complain if (getuid() == 0).

Good. Thanks!

> Well. I'm glad he didn't log in as "tyler". Read "dowall.c" to see why.

I don't happen to have the source handy, and I hate to be a killjoy,
but hacks should be removed, please.

	Thanks

	Bruce
--
       Clinton isn't perfect, but I like him a lot more than Dole.