[jira] [Resolved] (VCL-860) Linux.pm's create_user silently fails if vcl group does not exist

["Andy Kurth (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

     [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VCL-860?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel ]

Andy Kurth resolved VCL-860.
----------------------------
    Resolution: Fixed
      Assignee: Andy Kurth

Linux.pm::reserve should create the vcl user group before calling OS.pm::reserve, which adds the user accounts.

> Linux.pm's create_user silently fails if vcl group does not exist
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: VCL-860
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VCL-860
>             Project: VCL
>          Issue Type: Improvement
>          Components: vcld (backend)
>    Affects Versions: 2.4, 2.4.1, 2.4.2
>            Reporter: Andy Kurth
>            Assignee: Andy Kurth
>            Priority: Minor
>             Fix For: 2.5
>
>
> The {{Linux.pm::create_user}} subroutine could be improved.  If the *_vcl_* user group does not exist, {{create_user}} does not successfully create the user but returns true.  No useful output is displayed in _vcld.log_ indicating the user was not created.  The following error message is being generated by the command but not being caught or displayed:
> {noformat}
> useradd: group 'vcl' does not exist
> {noformat}
> Later on, the following is displayed in _vcld.log_ when the code attempts to set the password of the non-existent user:
> {noformat}
> chpasswd: (user arkurth) pam_chauthtok() failed, error:
> Authentication token manipulation error
> chpasswd: (line 1, user arkurth) password not changed
> {noformat}
> This leads someone to try to troubleshoot a problem with the _passwd_ command, even though the underlying problem is with sloppy code in {{create_user}}.  This subroutine should be improved.
> Why is the *_vcl_* group even needed?  This user group is not a default characteristic of the OS and is hard-coded in the VCL code -- something which should be avoided.  It would simplify things if the default user group named after the user is used.  If we add features in the future allowing more elaborate user groups to be configured, the *_vcl_* user group is going to continue to be a nuisance.



--
This message was sent by Atlassian JIRA
(v6.3.15#6346)