[lug] Re: linux

[Bill Jorgensen]

On Tue, 19 Jun 2001, Hugh Brown wrote:

> My understanding is that the :x: means go look at /etc/shadow, whereas an
> actual password would just be used for authentication.  So, you could null
> the /etc/shadow password field and leave the :x: (don't know if that will
> work, never tried it) or you could null /etc/passwd and should be
> successful.

I would definitely try this. I have had to do (unfortunately) more than
once. It works on other platforms. I have not done it within any Linux
flavor.

You are right about the :x: entry within the password file. If you remove
the password char string from shadow you should be okay. (As I said
before, it has worked on other UNIX platforms.) One other thing, make sure
you backup both the password and shadow file to make sure you have good
copies if this goes south on you.

Bill Jorgensen

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  UNIX... spoken with hushed and reverent tones.
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