Problem with user management

[(``-_-´´) -- Fernando]

Hya.
Although I dont have an anwser for your question I'm going to try
helping you out and maybe debug this problem, while waiting for
someone else to provide more help.

Please post the results of an ls of the groups,shadow,password files,
and also of the /home dir.
lets see if something having to do with permitions is the cause of
this strange behavior.

On 6/20/07, Darryl LeCount <darryl at jamyskis.net> wrote:
> <rant>
> I've posted this weeks ago on UbuntuForums, bumped it half a dozen
> times, asked it three times on three different days at #ubuntu and asked
> it here once. The lack of any kind of response, save for someone who has
> exactly the same problem and someone who replied once, thinking it was a
> problem with the groups - it was partially that, but the problem goes
> much deeper (see below) - has been extremely disheartening. In fact, I
> think only about 1 in every 8 questions that I've asked on the forums
> has gone answered. Two people I know who were interested in Ubuntu have
> permanently switched back to Windows because of this. I'm not so
> advanced with my knowledge of Ubuntu or Linux in general, but I do try
> to help out where I can.
> </rant>
>
> Anyway, the problem again: About two weeks ago I came back home from a
> weekend away to find a few updates waiting for me. I installed them and
> added a friend so that she could access my computer via SSH. I'm using
> Feisty, for the record. When I tried to add the friend, however, I
> noticed something rather strange. Several things, in fact:
>
> * Despite the presence of users on the PC (nine of them), not a single
> one was showing up in the list.
> * When I tried to add her to the list nonetheless, it just bombed out.
> * After I tried to load up the applet again, it informed me that I
> didn't have the necessary permissions.
> * I rebooted, and noticed that in my GDM login screen (which has a list
> of users on the system), my name appeared three times. I only have two
> accounts under my name, one for business and one for pleasure (obviously
> with two different usernames)
> * I logged in with my user name and found that I had been stripped of my
> admin rights. I rebooted, went into recovery mode, readded myself to the
> admin group.
> * When I logged back in, admin rights were back. All seemed right with
> the world again. I went back into the users and groups applet to add
> myself to the other groups again. Alas, the users were still not listed.
> * I tried adding my friend to the list again, and again, it bombed out,
> thusly stripping me of my admin rights yet again.
>
> Since then I've left the applet well alone, and for the time being I'm
> making do with using adduser on the command line. However, this
> behaviour is worrying and possibly symptomatic of a larger problem
> (especially with the GDM issues). Since I use my computer for work, I
> really can't afford to have this worry. I'd really like to avoid a
> reinstall of Ubuntu as I simply don't have the time. Are there any tests
> I can carry out to see if there is a fundamental problem with the user
> management? Could it be something with my /etc/groups, /etc/shadow
> or /etc/passwd files? Are there any config files that I'm missing here
> that are involved with user management that could be causing this?
>
> I would appreciate any help anyone can offer on this matter. If you need
> any further information, I'll be happy to give it.
>
> >> Darryl
>
> --
> Darryl LeCount
> www.jamyskis.net
> darryl at jamyskis.net
>
> PGP Key: 1E94A0F1
> -----------------
> To confirm the authenticity of this mail, add this key to your PGP keyring.
> Um den Ursprung dieses E-Mails zu bestätigen, bitte diesen Schüssel in Ihren PGP-Schlüsselbund einfügen.
> Pour vérifier l'authenticité de ce courriel, ajoutez ce clé à votre porte-clés PGP.
>
> --
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
>
>
>


-- 
BUGabundo  :o)
(``-_-´´)
GPG key 1024D/00967685
Linux user #443786
The body of this email is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0

http://BUGabundo.net
http://BrinKadeiraS.BUGabundo.net

http://host.BUGabundo.net  --  http://alojamento.BUGabundo.net
>From 1€ / month

Crazy Domain Insane (200GB disk, 2TB bw, 6.00€ ($7.95)/month)

at http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?249195/signup
50$ discount with promo code "BUG50" on all plans
Free lifetime domain with promo code "BUGDOMAIN"