Message-Id: <200810110722.m9B7MFKD013449@delorie.com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
From: Herb Maeder <maeder-cygml AT maeder DOT org>
In-reply-to: Corinna Vinschen <corinna-cygwin@cygwin.com> 's message of                  Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:35:08 +0200.
Subject: Re: invalid login gid in /etc/passwd does not show group name as 'mkgroup'
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:21:32 -0700
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On 10 Oct 2008 11:35:08 +0200, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> > But I think that means that some of the information in the "Special values
> > of user and group ids" section of the Cygwin User's Guide is out of date.
> > 
> > Would it be appropriate to include some of the information from your
> > description above in that section?
> 
> I don't think that these internals should be mentioned in the user's guide.

The point is moot since that section is due for a rewrite anyway.  I was
just trying to say that "some" of the information you provided was more
relevant (and certainly more correct) than what's there now.  In any
case, I'm sure that your sense of what level of detail is appropriate 
for the user is quite correct.

> > Would it be possible to add a case for this group name in the /etc/profile
> > "id -ng" case statement so that the user will be notified and have some
> > idea of what it means and what to do about it?
> 
> id is a generic tool from coreutils.  I for one wouldn't think it
> prudent to add special Cygwin code just to warn the user of some
> system specific corner case.

Perhaps my intention was not clearly stated.  I believe that a case
statement was added to /etc/profile long ago, specifically to warn users
that the group name was set to one of the cygwin special cases.  I'm 
referring to this statement in the cygwin default /etc/profile:

  # Check to see if mkpasswd/mkgroup needs to be run try and cut down the emails
  #   about this on the lists!
  # If this message keeps appearing and you are sure it's a mistake (ie, don't
  #   email about it!), comment out the test below.
  case `id -ng` in
  mkpasswd )
    echo "Your group is currently \"mkpasswd\".  This indicates that"
    echo "the /etc/passwd (and possibly /etc/group) files should be rebuilt."
    echo "See the man pages for mkpasswd and mkgroup then, for example, run"
    echo "mkpasswd -l [-d] > /etc/passwd"
    echo "mkgroup  -l [-d] > /etc/group"
    echo "Note that the -d switch is necessary for domain users."
    ;;

  . . .

If that case statement is no longer prudent, perhaps it should be removed.

But if it ends up sticking around, then it probably makes sense to account
for the additional special case that was just introduced:

  passwd/group_GID_clash* )
    echo "Your group is currently \"passwd/group_GID_clash\".  This indicates"
    echo "blah, blah, blah..."
    ;;

> > The "passwd/group_GID_clash" group name probably also deserves a mention
> > in the Cygwin User's Guide.
> 
> That's right, but this part of the ntsec documentation is waiting
> patiently for an update for a long time anyway.  I just had always
> more important stuff to do (looking tv, sleeping, ...)

I can certainly appreciate that!  I knew that the 1.7 version of the
user's guide had undergone revision, but I didn't realize that this
section was still on the todo list.  I'm sure it will all sort itself 
out nicely in the update.

Thanks again,
Herb.

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