Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 00:52:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Al Reuben <alex@nac.net> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: Rick Smith <rsmith@nac.net>, Who???? <rpalma@nac.net> Subject: Strange username questions... Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980514004150.24642K-100000@iago.nac.net>
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We are migrating our mail server from a single Linux box to a (we hope)
freebsd cluster.
We are running into two problems, one of which I think we have solved by
looking at the archives. First, we have the need for greater than 8
character usernames; we have over 9500 accounts, and many _already_ have
usernames > 8 chars, and we can't change them. But, I saw the notes on
-CURRENT, etc., and I think we can accomplish this feat.
However, we found something else interesting. Unlike Linux, FreeBSD
appears that it can't have '.'s (meaning PERIODS) in usernames; for
instance:
Don't worry about mistakes. I will give you the chance later to correct any input.
Enter username [a-z0-9_-]: al.test
Wrong username. Please use only lowercase characters or digits
Hrmph.
So, my question is, why? Is there a reason that '.'s can't be in the
username?
So, as a hacked-to-pieces test, I added a user 'joe', then vipw'ed, and
changed his username to joe.test, which has worked OK in my limited
testing (15 minutes) so far.
I'd *love* comments. I think I am subscribed to this list, but I am not
sure; please do me the courtesy of replying to alex@nac.net also. Thanks!
As an aside and a PS, I would like to thank you guys for the excellent
work you are doing on this fine OS; IMHO FreeBSD is by far one of the best
Unices available, and it has proven to us to be highly stable and robust.
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Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
I route, therefore I am.
Alex Rubenstein, alex@nac.net, KC2BUO, ISP/C Charter Member
Father of the Network and Head Bottle-Washer
Net Access Corporation, 9 Mt. Pleasant Tpk., Denville, NJ 07834
Don't choose a spineless ISP! We have more backbone! http://www.nac.net
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