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Hi list, I'm still interested in testing of the new Cygwin code to have user/group identification without requiring /etc/passwd and /etc/group files. This is a pretty big change, and it would be very helpful if as many users as possible would be willing to give this a test. Think about it: You'll never have to care for /etc/passwd and /etc/group files again! The latest preliminary documentation is attached to this mail again. As usual the changes are present in the latest snapshots: http://cygwin.com/snapshots/ The latest snapshots now handle "Microsoft Accounts", a marketing name for a way to login with your email address(1). These accounts, if local (non-domain) accounts, will have the "Users" group as their primary group in Cygwin by default. The problems are outlined in the thread "Problem with "None" Group on Non-Domain Members"(2). ========== IMPORTANT: ========== I'm still a bit unhappy with the account naming strategy and especially the nsswitch.conf configuration. It would be more reliable if the user names would be constructed in always the same way. So, here are the things I'm still unsure about: * db_separator in /etc/nsswitch.conf Is it really such a good idea to have a configurable separator char in user and group names? Is it important that it is configurable? Isn't '+' a good choice for the separator and be done with it? * Right now the builtin accounts are prepended by the separator char: +SYSTEM +Users ... This is how it's done in SFU, but... do we need that? The builtin accounts are unambiguous. There's no way to create a user or group with the same name asd a builtin account. And while compatibility with SFU looks funny, it's not necessary. So, shall we drop this prepending of the separator char and make the builtin accounts "normal" accounts again, just like before? SYSTEM Users ... * Right now there are three configurable strategies for the account naming in /etc/nsswitch.conf: db_prefix: auto This is the default. If your account is from the primary domain of your machine, or if your machine is a standalone machine (not a domain member), your Cygwin account name is just the Windows account name. If your account is from another domain, or if you're logged in as local user on a domain machine, the Cygwin username will be the combination of Windows domainname and username, with the separator char in between: MY_DOM+username (foreign domain) MACHINE+username (local account) db_prefx: primary Like "auto", but primary domain accounts will be prepended by the domainname as well. db_prefix: always All accounts, even the builtin accounts, will have the domain name prepended: BUILTIN+Users Do we really need this flexibility? Thanks, Corinna (1) ...and a nice way for MSFT to collect your personal information... (2) http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2014-05/threads.html#00059 -- Corinna Vinschen Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to Cygwin Maintainer cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Red Hat
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