source: chapter06/pwdgroup.xml@ bdf5881

<sect1 id="ch06-pwdgroup">
<title>Creating the passwd and group files</title>
<?dbhtml filename="pwdgroup.html" dir="chapter06"?>

<para>In order for <emphasis>root</emphasis> to be able to login and for the
name "root" to be recognized, there need to be relevant entries in the
<filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and
<filename>/etc/group</filename> files. Also, to support one of the coreutils
tests, we will also create the user and group nobody, which is almost
universally present on Linux computers.</para>

<para>Create the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> file by running the
following command:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>cat &gt; /etc/passwd &lt;&lt; "EOF"</userinput>
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
nobody:x:1000:1000:nobody:/:/bin/bash
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen></para>

<para>The actual password for <emphasis>root</emphasis> (the "x" here is
just a placeholder) will be set later.</para>

<para>Create the <filename>/etc/group</filename> file by running the
following command:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>cat &gt; /etc/group &lt;&lt; "EOF"</userinput>
root:x:0:
bin:x:1:
sys:x:2:
kmem:x:3:
tty:x:4:
tape:x:5:
daemon:x:6:
floppy:x:7:
disk:x:8:
lp:x:9:
dialout:x:10:
audio:x:11:
nobody:x:1000:
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen></para>

<para>The created groups aren't part of any standard -- they are the groups
that the MAKEDEV script in the next section uses. Besides the group "root",
the LSB (<ulink url="http://www.linuxbase.org"/>) recommends only a group
"bin", with a GID of 1, be present. All other group names and GIDs can be
chosen freely by the user, as well-written packages don't depend on GID
numbers but use the group's name.</para>

<para><screen><userinput>exec /tools/bin/bash --login
set +h</userinput></screen></para>

</sect1>