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Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 22:10:24 -0500
To: Dan Wolfe <dwolfe@zyga.com>,
        "'questions@freebsd.org'" <questions@freebsd.org>
From: "Jordyn A. Buchanan" <jordyn@bestweb.net>
Subject: Re: Removing a user
Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org
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At 9:11 PM -0500 12/8/96, Dan Wolfe wrote:
>I am using FreeBSD 2.0.5 and have no problem adding users with
>/usr/sbin/adduser utility.  However, when I try to remove a user, one of the
>steps I perform is to remove the line associated with the user in /etc/passwd
>and save the file.  Then, a few minutes later if I look at the file again,
>the
>line is back in the file.  Is there any way to delete a line forever in
>/etc/passwd?  Any help is appreciated.

Edit /etc/master.passwd instead.  /etc/passwd is generated from
/etc/master.passwd when you run pwd_mkdb and isn't really all that
important to most programs, which get their information from
/etc/master.passwd.

Don't edit /etc/master.passwd by hand, though--use the vipw command
instead.  This way you'll get file locking and pwd_mkdb will be run do make
sure your database files are updated in addition to the ASCII file you work
on.

Jordyn

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|Jordyn A. Buchanan                    mailto:jordyn@bestweb.net |
|Bestweb Corporation                      http://www.bestweb.net |
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