Our problem with this one was a malformed passwd file entry in /var/yp/src
that was being reported by the 'make' when I updated the NIS maps but,
since it was buried in the middle of a batch job that creates accounts I
missed it.
The login error "Can't rewrite terminal control entry for ttywb" wasn't
very helpful in tracking this down, but the problem was that any user
with a uid larger than the problem entry in the passwd file was not getting
written to the database files when the maps were pushed out. Doing an
'ls -l' on the home directories of the users who had these higher uid
proved that they weren't being listed in the password file, as the
display of files lacked the user name of the owner.
Fortunately, the error was near the bottom, and only a few hundred
accounts were affected.
Folks came up with a few interesting explinations as to why this was
happening: out of disk space, corrupt /etc/auth/system/ttys[.db] file,
not enought ttys, need to run /tcb/bin/authck, need to run
/tcb/bin/convauth -dt to recreate ttys database, file permission
problem, etc.
Thanks to the following helpful folks for their suggestions:
"Stephan K. Zitz" <zitz_at_erf.net>
Steve Copeland <Steve.Copeland_at_Enersis.co.nz>
simon.millard_at_gemini.barclays.co.uk
"Nestor Ruiz" <nruiz_at_hermes.bvl.com.pe>
--
Ray Lauff : ray_at_thunder.ocis.temple.edu : (215) 204-5678 : Temple University
Received on Wed Oct 07 1998 - 00:21:12 NZDT