[lug] Newbie admin question

[rm at mamma.varadinet.de]

There _is_ one CAVEAT:
 some services create files/directories that include the 
 username, most prominently the local mail delivery. If
 you want to change the user name in /etc/passwd and
 /etc/shadow you should also change the name of the mail
 spool file in /var/spool/mail/ 
 It might be a good idea to run
   find / -name '*username*' > /tmp/maybeuser.txt
 and check that file for user related stuff.

 Ralf

On Wed, Mar 21, 2001 at 09:47:37AM -0700, J. Wayde Allen wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Glenn Murray wrote:
> 
> > How do you change the name of a user?  
> > 
> > Can you do it naively be editing /etc/passwd
> 
> Editing /etc/passwd , /etc/group should be all you'd need to do.  You'll
> probably also want to rename the home directory whick will require editing
> the pointer in the /etc/passwd file accordingly too.  Off the top of my
> head, I can't think of anything else that would need to change.
> 
> > changing file ownerships, 
> 
> File ownerships are keyed to the user and group ID numbers.  The
> /etc/passwd and /etc/group files are what link the user and group names to
> these numbers.  If you change the names in those files and leave the ID
> numbers the same, there shouldn't be anything to change as far as file
> ownerships go.
> 
> > or is this a Bad Idea?
> 
> No, what you've described is basically how it is done.
> 
> >  Must you start over with a new user name?
> 
> No.
> 
> - Wayde
>   (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)
> 
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