Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 13:09:13 +1030 From: Brian Astill <bastill@sa.apana.org.au> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: A question from a convert from Windows to FreeBSD Message-ID: <02012713091300.01261@BAPhD.gihon.org.au> In-Reply-To: <200201260704.g0Q74u864537@fedde.littleton.co.us> References: <200201260704.g0Q74u864537@fedde.littleton.co.us>
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On Saturday 26 January 2002 17:34, Chris Fedde wrote: > On Sat, 26 Jan 2002 14:00:24 +1030 Brian Astill wrote: > +------------------ > | However, what I am saying is that the simple sentence "passwords > | can be changed by root without knowledge of a users existing > | password" was simply not there on any man page - heaps and heaps > | of well-written detail I did not need, was. > > +------------------ > > But the manual page says this in the the first paragraph... > > Passwd changes the user's local, Kerberos, or NIS password. > If the user is not the super-user, passwd first prompts for > the current password and will not continue unless the correct > password is entered. > > The second sentence seems to be just another way of saying exactly > what you say was missing from the page. Maybe I've been reading > these things for too long, but it seems clear to me. Negative logic > can be confusing. Actually, I think it is inferential logic - but it requires a convoluted mind to see it! The operative words are "if the user is not the super-user" passwd first prompts ... from which one can reasonably infer that if the user IS the super-user passwd would NOT so prompt. You are right, but which newbie (like me) would see it? > And maybe this needs some cleaning up. You ain't kidding! :-) > You might want to submit a patch to the FreeBSD Documentation project. Want? - Yes. Be capable of? - No. -- Regards, Brian To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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