nsswitch.conf.5: clarify the "notfound" status

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are welcome.

Quoted 8 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the  "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes.  May I suggest you send in a patch that is applied against this?  I would also suggest that if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would use it.

Quoted 8 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the  "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes.  May I suggest you send in a patch that is applied against this?  I would also suggest that if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would use it.

Quoted 12 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 7 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

Quoted 7 lines

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes. May I suggest you send in a patch that is applied against this? I would also suggest that if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would use it.

Looking a little deeper at this, I'd like another set of eyes. Mark, would you be able to review Peter's patch?

Thanks,

Michael

Quoted 33 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 18 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 10 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the  "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place
where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are
welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

Quoted 8 lines

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes.  May I suggest
you send in a patch that is applied against this?  I would also suggest that
if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would
use it.

Looking a little deeper at this, I'd like another set of eyes. Mark, would you be able to review Peter's patch?

Quoted 4 lines

Thanks,

Michael

I can't find this comment in glibc myself, there's nothing to this effect in grp/initgroups.c ?

I've tested on a build with glibc 2.5 - admittedly not the latest version but it does feature the initgroups functionality - and I am not witnessing this behaviour.  My configuration file has no initgroups line, and this entry:

   group: db [NOTFOUND=return] files

...always returns as expected if my /var/db/group.db file does not contain the group entry that I am searching for.

So I don't concur with the suggested change ...

Quoted 30 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 29 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 16 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 9 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place
where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are
welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

Quoted 8 lines

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes. May I suggest
you send in a patch that is applied against this? I would also suggest that
if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would
use it.

Looking a little deeper at this, I'd like another set of eyes. Mark, would you be able to review Peter's patch?

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 4 lines

Thanks,

Michael

I can't find this comment in glibc myself, there's nothing to this effect in grp/initgroups.c ?

Follow Peter's URL.

Quoted 11 lines

I've tested on a build with glibc 2.5 - admittedly not the latest version but it does feature the initgroups functionality - and I am not witnessing this behaviour. My configuration file has no initgroups line, and this entry:

group: db [NOTFOUND=return] files

...always returns as expected if my /var/db/group.db file does not contain the group entry that I am searching for.

So I don't concur with the suggested change ...

It looks like the change only arrived in glibc 2.14. Would you be able to take a look there?

Thanks,

Michael

Hello guys,

thanks for looking into this. I am adding some notes below:

Quoted 32 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 30 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 29 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 16 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 9 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place
where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are
welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

Quoted 8 lines

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes. May I suggest
you send in a patch that is applied against this? I would also suggest that
if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would
use it.

Looking a little deeper at this, I'd like another set of eyes. Mark, would you be able to review Peter's patch?

Quoted 19 lines

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 4 lines

Thanks,

Michael

I can't find this comment in glibc myself, there's nothing to this effect in grp/initgroups.c ?

Follow Peter's URL.

Quoted 11 lines

I've tested on a build with glibc 2.5 - admittedly not the latest version but it does feature the initgroups functionality - and I am not witnessing this behaviour. My configuration file has no initgroups line, and this entry:

group: db [NOTFOUND=return] files

...always returns as expected if my /var/db/group.db file does not contain the group entry that I am searching for.

So I don't concur with the suggested change ...

The result is always as expected, the added note should clarify how the search is done. Important example would be like this:

group: files [!NOTFOUND=return] XXXXXX

what means, according to the current text in the man page, that if the result from "files" is either SUCCESS, UNAVAIL or TRYAGAIN, then, it should be returned. Well, it is, but the XXXXXX is also _always_ searched. Without the suggested note, it can be confusing while testing or setting up, also, if the XXXXXX is some remote service, this can create some hard to find delays.

Thanks,

peter

Quoted 6 lines

It looks like the change only arrived in glibc 2.14. Would you be able to take a look there?

Thanks,

Michael

Hello,

I've updated the patch against the latest man-pages 3.41. Also, I've added description of the initgroups database, reformulated the note and moved it to the return action.

What do you think?

Thanks,

peter

nsswitch.conf.5 2012-05-30 11:16:26.881542800 +0200 renamed from nsswitch.conf.5.org 2012-05-10 22:13:23.000000000 +0200 +9 -0

@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@
 .BR gethostbyname (3)
 and related functions.
 .TP
+.B initgroups
+Supplementary group access list, used by
+.BR getgrouplist (3)
+function.
+.TP
 .B netgroup
 Network-wide list of hosts and users, used for access rules.
 C libraries before glibc 2.1 supported netgroups only over NIS.

@@ -241,6 +246,10 @@
 .B return
 Return a result now.
 Do not call any further lookup functions.
+However, for compatibility reasons, if this is the selected action
+for the `group' database and the `notfound' status,
+and the configuration file does not contain the `initgroups' line,
+the next lookup function is always called, without affecting the 

search result.
.TP
.B continue
Call the next lookup function.

Quoted 70 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello guys,

thanks for looking into this. I am adding some notes below:

Quoted 32 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 30 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 29 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 16 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 9 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct place
where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments are
welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

Quoted 8 lines

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes. May I suggest
you send in a patch that is applied against this? I would also suggest that
if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would
use it.

Looking a little deeper at this, I'd like another set of eyes. Mark, would you be able to review Peter's patch?

Quoted 19 lines

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 4 lines

Thanks,

Michael

I can't find this comment in glibc myself, there's nothing to this effect in grp/initgroups.c ?

Follow Peter's URL.

Quoted 11 lines

I've tested on a build with glibc 2.5 - admittedly not the latest version but it does feature the initgroups functionality - and I am not witnessing this behaviour. My configuration file has no initgroups line, and this entry:

group: db [NOTFOUND=return] files

...always returns as expected if my /var/db/group.db file does not contain the group entry that I am searching for.

So I don't concur with the suggested change ...

The result is always as expected, the added note should clarify how the search is done. Important example would be like this:

group: files [!NOTFOUND=return] XXXXXX

what means, according to the current text in the man page, that if the result from "files" is either SUCCESS, UNAVAIL or TRYAGAIN, then, it should be returned. Well, it is, but the XXXXXX is also _always_ searched. Without the suggested note, it can be confusing while testing or setting up, also, if the XXXXXX is some remote service, this can create some hard to find delays.

Thanks,

Quoted 7 lines

peter

Quoted 6 lines

It looks like the change only arrived in glibc 2.14. Would you be able to take a look there?

Thanks,

Michael

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Quoted 146 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I've updated the patch against the latest man-pages 3.41. Also, I've added description of the initgroups database, reformulated the note and moved it to the return action.

What do you think?

Thanks,

peter

nsswitch.conf.5 2012-05-30 11:16:26.881542800 +0200 renamed from nsswitch.conf.5.org 2012-05-10 22:13:23.000000000 +0200 +9 -0

@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@
 .BR gethostbyname (3)
 and related functions.
 .TP
+.B initgroups
+Supplementary group access list, used by
+.BR getgrouplist (3)
+function.
+.TP
 .B netgroup
 Network-wide list of hosts and users, used for access rules.
 C libraries before glibc 2.1 supported netgroups only over NIS.

@@ -241,6 +246,10 @@
 .B return
 Return a result now.
 Do not call any further lookup functions.
+However, for compatibility reasons, if this is the selected action
+for the `group' database and the `notfound' status,
+and the configuration file does not contain the `initgroups' line,
+the next lookup function is always called, without affecting the search

result.
.TP
.B continue
Call the next lookup function.

Quoted 88 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello guys,

thanks for looking into this. I am adding some notes below:

Quoted 44 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 41 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 39 lines · Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)

Quoted 20 lines · Mark R Bannister

Quoted 12 lines · Peter Schiffer

Hello,

I am suggesting the following update of the "notfound" status on the nsswitch.conf.5 man page. I am not 100% sure that this is the correct
place
where this information on the man page should be placed. Any comments
are
welcome.

Hi Peter,

I did a rewrite of the nsswitch.conf man page in October last year:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.man/2366/match=nsswitch+conf

Quoted 10 lines

I'm still waiting for Michael to incorporate these changes. May I suggest
you send in a patch that is applied against this? I would also suggest
that
if you're going to make reference to "initgroups" you'll need to add some
further description somewhere that explains what this is and when you would
use it.

Looking a little deeper at this, I'd like another set of eyes. Mark, would you be able to review Peter's patch?

Thanks,

Quoted 22 lines

Quoted 5 lines

Quoted 2 lines

Michael

I can't find this comment in glibc myself, there's nothing to this effect in
grp/initgroups.c ?

Follow Peter's URL.

Quoted 14 lines

I've tested on a build with glibc 2.5 - admittedly not the latest version
but it does feature the initgroups functionality - and I am not witnessing
this behaviour. My configuration file has no initgroups line, and this entry:

group: db [NOTFOUND=return] files

...always returns as expected if my /var/db/group.db file does not contain
the group entry that I am searching for.

So I don't concur with the suggested change ...

The result is always as expected, the added note should clarify how the search is done. Important example would be like this:

group: files [!NOTFOUND=return] XXXXXX

what means, according to the current text in the man page, that if the result from "files" is either SUCCESS, UNAVAIL or TRYAGAIN, then, it should be returned. Well, it is, but the XXXXXX is also _always_ searched.
Without the suggested note, it can be confusing while testing or setting up,
also, if the XXXXXX is some remote service, this can create some hard to find
delays.

Quoted 10 lines

Thanks,

peter

Quoted 7 lines

It looks like the change only arrived in glibc 2.14. Would you be able to take a look there?

Thanks,

Michael

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