Xref: utzoo comp.unix.questions:9291 comp.bugs.sys5:561
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!cbnews!lvc
From: lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.bugs.sys5
Subject: Re: SVR3 passwd changes mode of passwd file
Message-ID: <1235@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 20 Sep 88 12:13:00 GMT
References: <3394@dunkshot.mips.COM>
Reply-To: lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 17

In article <3394@dunkshot.mips.COM> dce@mips.COM (David Elliott) writes:
>
	...
>I have had a couple of complaints about this [/bin/passwd changes mode of
>/etc/passwd explicitly to 0444 -lvc], and would like to decide on a solution.
>Is it reasonable to have passwd fix the mode of the new /etc/passwd
>to be the same as the current /etc/passwd?

No, unless you don't give a darn about security.  What exactly is your
complaint about mode 0444 on /etc/passwd? Anything one should be allowed
to do to /etc/passwd should be done by root or the owner of /etc.  A
carefully coded suid to root should do the job.  Please elaborate what your
need is.

>David Elliott		dce@mips.com  or  {ames,prls,pyramid,decwrl}!mips!dce
-- 
Larry Cipriani, AT&T Network Systems, Columbus OH, cbnews!lvc lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM