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2. Configuration

2.1 The configuration file

Use of libpwdb requires the presence of a correctly formatted configuration file: /etc/pwdb.conf. It has the following syntax:

    #
    # first the list of user databases
    #
        user: 
                list1
                list2
                list3
                ...
    #
    # next, the list of group databases
    #
        group:
                list1
                list2
                ...
    #
    # end of file
    #

Here, listN has the following form name1+name2+name3. It indicates a collection of databases that are merged to form the record for the user/group. When selecting the default database (PWDB_DEFAULT) the library chooses the list whose first named database contains an entry for the requested user (id). Currently, the nameN items are from the following selection: nis, unix, radius and shadow.

Newlines are ignored except where they terminate comments; comments are preceded with `#' characters.

A simple example /etc/pwdb.conf file would be:

    # This is an example /etc/pwdb.conf file. It defines the
    # database information sources for users in this system

    # First, we define where user information is stored
    # (here, users are listed in /etc/passwd and may have
    # supplementary information in the /etc/shadow file)
    # Should the user have a shadow entry the combination is
    # used

        user: 
                shadow + unix
                unix

    # Second, we define where the users' groups are listed
    # (here the groups are listed in the /etc/group file
    # in addition, there is group information to be found
    # in the /etc/sgroup file)

        group:
                unix + shadow

    #
    # end of file


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