Ubuntu Domain Server

[Steven Susbauer]

On Oct 22, 2009, at 2:56 AM, Christopher Chan wrote:

> Steven Susbauer wrote:
>>
>> On Oct 21, 2009, at 10:56 PM, Christopher Chan wrote:
>>
>>> Ryan Dwyer wrote:
>>>>
>>>> It doesn't matter how much work is involved. Do you think the
>>>> Linux/Ubuntu community would be willing to change the way system
>>>> logons work if it meant bug #1 could be completed?
>>>
>>> Let us see. To change the way system logons work would mean changing
>>> pam, the C library and just about anything that has to do with  
>>> system
>>> accounts. You are welcome to try to convince the Ubuntu community to
>>> maintain a fork of all these essential system libraries and offer  
>>> some
>>> form of backwards compatibility to avoid having to also modify who  
>>> knows
>>> how many other packages like sendmail, apache, bind, ..., ..., ...,
>>> everything. Mac OS X, a certified UNIX system as of Snow Leopard, is
>>> enjoying a measure of success without having to become Windows  
>>> like. You
>>> are barking up the wrong tree here.
>>>
>>
>> Note that OS X (that UNIX certified system) has completely changed  
>> how system logons work. User accounts (and a ton of other things)  
>> are managed through the Open Directory service even on the local  
>> machine. The plus of this is it is also highly compatible with  
>> external directory services. It takes three or four clicks of a  
>> mouse to configure the system to use a domain server and  
>> authenticate domain users against a centralized system. Their  
>> system is both compatible with traditional UID/GID, and also allows  
>> for separation of local machine and domain accounts.
>>
>> I am not extremely familiar with the intricacies of the OS X Open  
>> Directory system and know that they have put in the work to make it  
>> work well and be compatible. It is not impossible and certainly  
>> worth considering before writing it off. Of course it may be that  
>> it is too much work to implement something similar.
>
> OH? Now this is interesting. I wonder if it is present in Darwin  
> where we can have a look at it.

It is indeed.

See: http://developer.apple.com/opensource/dirservices/ as well as http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Networking/Reference/DirectoryServiceFramework/index.html

Both the Directory Service and OpenDirectory server are on their open  
source download page and are APSL.