SV: [CentOS] usernames with capitals

Thu Feb 2 11:03:26 UTC 2006
Karanbir Singh <mail-lists at karan.org>

Claus Derlien wrote:
> --NoDisclaim--
> 
> I cant use an editor to mass update and change usernames as this  is a part of an automatic useradd routine
> written in an ancient legacy application which calls useradd and usermod, we have been using this software for more than 15 years, so its hard for me to argue for a rewrite, so im forced to bend the OS instead
> 
> it isnt a problem on redhat 8.0, so somewhere in the patches for shadow utils. there must be a change to this behaviour..
> up until now i have created the useradds with lower case and manually converted them to upper case
> 
> I am aware that it is a no no to use upper case usernames, but we have been doing it for years without problems so...
> 
> thanks for the answers so far
> 
> best regards 
> 
> claus derlien
> 
> 
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org]På
> vegne af Les Mikesell
> Sendt: 1. februar 2006 18:06
> Til: CentOS mailing list
> Emne: Re: [CentOS] usernames with capitals
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2006-02-01 at 08:45, Barry Brimer wrote:
> 
>>>If it is just for a set of existing users, I'd add them in
>>>lowercase, then edit
>>>/etc/passwd
>>>/etc/shadow
>>>/etc/group
>>>/etc/gshadow
>>>and mv the /home/ directory to names you want (making sure
>>>everything matches).
>>
>>You might choose to use vipw and vigr to edit the above files as well.
>>
>>If you use local mail spools, you will need to rename /var/spool/mail/user 
>>to /var/spool/mail/USER
> 
> 
> That's actually a different problem and a good reason by itself
> not to ever use uppercase in a user login name.  Mailers on
> unix-like systems usually want to lowercase the address. I've
> always avoided doing this myself so I'm not sure about the
> details or how to work around it.
> 


Can we not top post ? I really hate posting when the content is just 
going around and around in circles.

Anyway, just so that everyone knows - this is a known issue. Expect a 
fix in U7 CentOS-3, or move to CentOS-4.

There is specific policy in place that prevents Uppercase logins from 
being created.

hth,

- K

-- 
Karanbir Singh : http://www.karan.org/ : 2522219 at icq