From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jul 9 21:56:43 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.org Delivered-To: FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B7B9D16A400 for ; Mon, 9 Jul 2007 21:56:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from mail-out3.apple.com (mail-out3.apple.com [17.254.13.22]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9FD5113C4B8 for ; Mon, 9 Jul 2007 21:56:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from relay6.apple.com (relay6.apple.com [17.128.113.36]) by mail-out3.apple.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 840DBB4FF71; Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:56:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: from relay6.apple.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by relay6.apple.com (Symantec Mail Security) with ESMTP id 6C90C10071; Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:56:43 -0700 (PDT) X-AuditID: 11807124-a24e1bb0000007e2-97-4692af1b6584 Received: from [17.214.13.96] (int-si-a.apple.com [17.128.113.41]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by relay6.apple.com (Apple SCV relay) with ESMTP id 530ED1006B; Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:56:43 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <3A85D7EF44E1C744BF6434691F5659E9702CFE@www.fcimail.org> References: <3A85D7EF44E1C744BF6434691F5659E9702CFE@www.fcimail.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <81A988E0-1FE2-4530-A5FD-0C0B28CD0816@mac.com> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Chuck Swiger Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:56:43 -0700 To: Jean-Paul Natola X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2) X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAA== Cc: FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.org, Peter Boosten Subject: Re: password failure- after mergmaster X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:56:43 -0000 On Jul 9, 2007, at 2:44 PM, Jean-Paul Natola wrote: >>> Because sometimes new versions of the OS come with new built-in user >>> accounts, which need to be added to the existing passwd or groups >>> databases somehow? >> >> Yes, exactly. Have to *merge* the changes into /etc/master.passwd >> rather >> than brute force overwrite. >> >> Notice the difference from my first post in this thread, the file >> which >> was clobbered is /etc/master.passwd, not just /etc/passwd which is a >> dummy > > I'M DONE now- now I cant even boot into safe or single user mode > > It keeps asking me to enter full pathname of shell or RETURN for / > bin/sh > > I hit enter and I see the same message again , and again , and > again and again I have two thoughts for you: One, FreeBSD should be a little easier to update, as the instructions for doing so are mildly complicated and are buried too far within the UPDATING document. Two, you really should learn how to perform an update and/or recover from system problems if it doesn't boot by working on a test system first, and only making significant changes to a production system once you've gotten confident you know what you are doing. Failing that, perhaps you ought to hire a sysadmin or consultant with decent BSD experience, and let them solve the issues so that you can focus on other things.... -- -Chuck