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SubjectRe: numerical username
Date
Miquel van Smoorenburg writes the following:
>The kernel doesn't know about usernames, only about user ids. This is
>a userspace (glibc) issue. I think libc5 did indeed limit you to
>8 characters, but who uses libc5 nowadays ;)

Do you have patches for ls, repquota, ps, who, finger, and every other
utility that has an output format designed around 8 character usernames? And
if so, will I have to upgrade to 132-column ttys to run them?

You have taken a giant leap from "The kernel and libc can handle long
usernames" to "long usernames work just fine". They don't. Too many utilites
are broken by them. It's a userspace issue, all right, but "userspace"
doesn't just mean the libc.

The kernel and libc wouldn't mind usernames with spaces and control
characters in them either. I dare you to use them :)

>So if you use glibc, you can have long usernames. If they may or
>may not start with a number depends more on the tools on the rest
>of your system.

Starting with a digit isn't so bad, but if there isn't at least one non-digit
in a username, then "chown 1234 foo" becomes frighteningly ambiguous.

I admin a system which has both kinds of broken usernames - too long and
all-digits - and it causes me no end of trouble. Stick to the guidelines and
you'll be happier.

Long Usernames Considered Harmful

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