Re: What is the passwd- file?

From: Armin Krawinkel (geschrei@gmx.at)
Date: 06/02/02 

From: Armin Krawinkel <geschrei@gmx.at>
Date: Sat, 01 Jun 2002 23:28:17 GMT

Kasper Dupont wrote:

> Wall Street wrote:
>>
>> I've been given a Debian 2.x system to regain control of. I've booted
>> into single user mode by using:
>>
>> linux ini=/bin/bash
>
> Guess you really mean init. BTW, if you haven't already
> done so I suggest you install sash. It is a good shell
> to have if you ever mess up your libraries. (I did that
> once)
>
>>
>> at the LILO prompt, and it gets me to the prompt. I've then edited
>> the passwd file, removing root's passwd (leaving just ::) and then
>> shutting down the system.
>>
>> When it boots back up, though, nothing has changed! I boot back into
>> single and the passwd file is back to what it was! I know the file
>> system has been mounted rw, because I cat the passwd file when I've
>> made my changes, and it shows root with no passwd.
>>
>> There are 2 things I am suspecting:
>>
>> 1. I cannot shut the system down correctly after making this change.
>> ctl-alt-del simply reboots the system. I guess in this mode, that key
>> sequence isn't being captured. And, running /sbin/shutdown r now
>> simply seems to hang the computer instead of actually rebooting it.
>> Is it possible that my changes are only in memory and are not being
>> flushed to disk?
>
> I guess that is your problem, you should type "umount /"
> before rebooting. (And a "sync" before and after does
> not hurt.)
>
>>
>> 2. There is a passwd- file and I have no idea what that is? Is it
>> somehow a protected copy that gets copied back over the original in
>> case of changes?
>
> The passwd- file will contain the old version when it has
> been changed by the standard tools.
>

if you are using shadowed passwords make sure to check /etc/passwd as well
as /etc/shadow 

-- 
Rgds, Armin
Take a look at ==> http://www.dtch.org
if u have a minute or two...

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