[Buildroot] [PATCH 1/3] system/skeleton: add the shadow-group file

[Yann E. MORIN]

Thomas, All,

On Monday 31 December 2012 Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:26:02 +0100, Yann E. MORIN wrote:
> > /etc/gshadow is to /etc/group what /etc/shadow is to /etc/passwd.
> 
> Could you give some more details? I understand /etc/shadow as opposed
> to /etc/passwd, but I don't see the point of /etc/gshadow since groups
> don't have passwords.

Wrong. Groups can have passwords. And users can change-group with:

    $ newgrp [-] groupname

If the user is a member of that group, or the group is paswrod-less, then
no password is asked for, and the current group-id has changed (it is a bit
like 'su', but to just change group)

If the user is not a member that group, and the group is not restricted (eg.
password is not '*' and does not start with '!', then the user is asked to
enter the group password.

See:
    group(5) gshadow(5) newgrp(1)

I hope that was enough to explain addition of gshadow. ;-)

Happy New Year!

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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