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Date:      Sun, 16 Feb 1997 22:50:04 -0800 (PST)
From:      Bill Paul <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu>
To:        freebsd-bugs
Subject:   Re: bin/2737: yppasswd fails to change password on a sun server
Message-ID:  <199702170650.WAA27956@freefall.freebsd.org>

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The following reply was made to PR bin/2737; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Bill Paul <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu>
To: bwithrow@baynetworks.com
Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: bin/2737: yppasswd fails to change password on a sun server
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 01:41:27 -0500 (EST)

 Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, 
 bwithrow@baynetworks.com had to walk into mine and say: > 
 
 > >Release:        2.1.6
 > >Environment:
 > FreeBSD tuva.engeast.baynetworks.com 2.1.6-RELEASE FreeBSD 2.1.6-RELEASE #0: Tue Feb  4 15:23:52 EST 1997     toor@kyzyl.engeast.baynetworks.com:/usr/src/sys/compile/G6_200  i386
 > 
 > >Description:
 > Attempting to change YP passwd on a sun server from FreeBSD fails:
 > 
 > bash$ yppasswd
 > Changing NIS password for bwithrow on xxxxx.
 > Old password: 
 > New password:
 > Retype new password:
 > RPC: Server can't decode arguments
 > 
 > NIS password has not been changed on xxxxx.
 > 
 > >How-To-Repeat:
 > As above.
 > >Fix:
 > 
 > >Audit-Trail:
 > >Unformatted:
 
 This bug report is almost totally worthless due to a complete lack
 of useful details. You don't say what version of SunOS you're using,
 nor do you provide a sample passwd entry that duplicates the problem.
 I have tested yppasswd in both 2.1.x and 2.2 against a SunOS server
 and I know they work, which means your problem is likely a configuration
 error rather than a software bug.
 
 The SunOS 4.1.x rpc.yppasswdd will respond with RPC_CANTDECODEARGS
 for a number of reasons, and it has an unfortunate habit of not bothering
 to echo any extra debug information to syslog when it does so. This makes
 determining the exact cause of the problem hard. That said, one possible
 cause springs to mind: please make sure you have installed the DES crypt 
 package. The MD5 encrypted password strings generated by the default
 FreeBSD crypt(3) function are much longer than the crypted password strings
 generated by the DES crypt(3) in SunOS. While NIS itself doesn't care
 about the length of encrypted passwords, rpc.yppasswdd might. (The
 FreeBSD rpc.yppasswdd doesn't care, but I can't speak for what SunOS
 does.)
 
 In case you are wondering why this should make a difference, have a look
 at the yppasswd.x protocol definition: it is the client that supplies the
 replacement encrypted password when a password update is performed. While
 the protocol does not limit the length of the encrypted password string,
 the server may chose to reject strings that it considers to be too long
 as a form of sanity checking.
 
 If you do not have libdescrypt.so properly installed, install it and
 then try yppasswd again.
 
 -Bill
 
 -- 
 =============================================================================
 -Bill Paul            (212) 854-6020 | System Manager, Master of Unix-Fu
 Work:         wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research
 Home:  wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City
 =============================================================================
  "It is not I who am crazy; it is I who am mad!" - Ren Hoek, "Space Madness"
 =============================================================================



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