Hi
Follwing is the summary of answers to chfn on NIS.
Thanx to Dr.Tom Blinn
Regards
Balaji
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 98 11:35:02 -0400
From: "Dr. Tom Blinn, 603-884-0646" <tpb_at_doctor.zk3.dec.com>
To: Digital CE <digital_at_astro.ocis.temple.edu>
Subject: Re: 'chfn' command on C2/NIS
> Hi
>
> Has anybody tried running chfn command on an NIS passowrd driven
> machines...It does not seem to recoganise any of the users.
>
> I am running it on the NIS slave and not on the master..Will that make any
> difference ?
>
> Thanx and regards
> Balaji
>
> EXAMPLE
> ========
>
> $ chfn digital
>
> Change finger: digital: unknown user
While I am not absolutely sure of this, I believe chfn operates only on the
/etc/passwd file, not on the NIS database. In fact, I'm not even sure that
there is a place in the NIS database for the "finger" information. There is
a special "yppasswd" utility for changing the password in the NIS database.
I can find no evidence of a "ypchfn" that would change the "finger" data.
So if you use chfn on a system other than the NIS master, and there is not
any record in the local /etc/passwd file for that user, I suspect that the
chfn will fail in exactly the manner you indicate -- from it's perspective
the user is non-existent.
I believe there is a way to put the user data in the local passwd file and
still use NIS to serve the password data, but I'd have to go review the man
page for the NIS and passwd stuff to confirm the syntax.
Tom
Dr. Thomas P. Blinn + UNIX Software Group + Compaq Computer Corporation
110 Spit Brook Road, MS ZKO3-2/U20 Nashua, New Hampshire 03062-2698
Technology Partnership Engineering Phone: (603) 884-0646
Internet: tpb_at_zk3.dec.com Digital's Easynet: alpha::tpb
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Received on Tue Sep 29 1998 - 17:54:04 NZST