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Programs knowing "root"

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John Bossert

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Sep 24, 1986, 1:35:47 PM9/24/86
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Can someone supply me with a list of programs depending on the user
with uid==0 having the name "root"? Specifically, I'd like to know
what would break if I renamed "root" to "mother", for example. I'm
primarily concerned with 4.[23] BSD, but the System V information would
be valuable too.

Please mail and I'll summarize to the net. Thanks.
--


John Bossert

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NEW Internet: ssc-vax!bos...@uw-beaver.washington.edu

George Robbins

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Sep 27, 1986, 4:32:04 PM9/27/86
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In article <6...@ssc-bee.UUCP> bos...@ssc-bee.UUCP (John Bossert) writes:
>Can someone supply me with a list of programs depending on the user
>with uid==0 having the name "root"? Specifically, I'd like to know
>what would break if I renamed "root" to "mother", for example. I'm
>primarily concerned with 4.[23] BSD, but the System V information would
>be valuable too.

In System VR1 (at least the Zilog flavor) "root" is compiled into su and init.
The init is a real nut-cruncher, since deleting the "root" entry from
/etc/passwd prevents you from booting up into even single user mode.

The safe thing is two have two entries for "root" in you /etc/passwd file,
the first being the one that the system uses to translate uid 0 to "root",
the second being "root" to satisfy programs that have this hard coded.
The passwords can be identical, or arranged to prevent logins or one or the
other.

This works nicely for system V, but I make no claims about Berkeley. In the
Zilog case, "zeus" is actually compiled into the programs, but I prefer to
use "root" like any normal unix system.
--
George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|caip}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!g...@seismo.css.GOV
Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)

Joe Ilacqua

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Oct 1, 1986, 12:27:46 PM10/1/86
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In article <6...@ssc-bee.UUCP> bos...@ssc-bee.UUCP (John Bossert) writes:
>Can someone supply me with a list of programs depending on the user
>with uid==0 having the name "root"? Specifically, I'd like to know
>what would break if I renamed "root" to "mother", for example. I'm
>primarily concerned with 4.[23] BSD, but the System V information would
>be valuable too.

This is not major but:

Rsend can not write to some with a UID of 0 if the name is not
root. (This is because part of the check to see if the terminal is in
use is to see if it is owned by root)
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Paul R. Taylor

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Nov 3, 1986, 9:48:40 AM11/3/86
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In article <6...@ssc-bee.UUCP> bos...@ssc-bee.UUCP (John Bossert) writes:
>Can someone supply me with a list of programs depending on the user
>with uid==0 having the name "root"? Specifically, I'd like to know
>what would break if I renamed "root" to "mother", for example. I'm
>primarily concerned with 4.[23] BSD, but the System V information would
>be valuable too.

we here running 4.[23] BSD and ULTRIX 1.2 have set up multiple users with
uid's == 0, the first one that is encountered in the passwd file is what
all of the programs that were owned by root are woned by. Eg. if mother
has a uid of 0 and comes before root in the passwd file then all of the
programs that were owned by root are then owned by mother. other than this
strangeness, we have found no problems with having more than one account
with a uid == 0.

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