[NTLUG:Discuss] /etc/passwd and /etc/passwd- differences.

[Kelledin]

On Wednesday 29 May 2002 11:37 pm, you wrote:
> To the best of my knowledge, /etc/passwd- is the shadow password file for
> /etc/passwd.
>
> What circumstances would cause the '/etc/passwd-' file to be missing
> entries that ARE in '/etc/passwd'?
>
> The system seems to be functioning fine.
>
> As always, Slackware is the distro being used here. (running version
> 8.0/Kernel 2.4.18)  Webmin is also in use.

/etc/passwd- and /etc/group- (if they exist) are backup files made by shadow 
utilities pwconv and grpconv.  These shadow utilities are used to convert the 
/etc/passwd and /etc/group files from the obsolete, non-shadowed format (with 
3DES-encrypted password fields) to an equivalent set of shadow password files 
(/etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow).

When these utilities do their job, they back up the original /etc/passwd or 
/etc/group files to '/etc/passwd-' or '/etc/group-'.  This is where these 
files come from; they may be missing some of the entries in the newer, 
shadowed /etc/passwd or /etc/group files if you add users or groups *after* 
converting the original files to shadowed equivalents.  The only real reason 
to keep these files around is in case you ever want to switch back to the 
old-style, non-shadowed passwords (which you should generally never do).

--
Kelledin
"If a server crashes in a server farm and no one pings it, does it still cost 
four figures to fix?"