Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!texbell!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: What should the password/security/userinfo/login system include?
Message-ID: <7284@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 13 Dec 89 15:30:19 GMT
References: <4180@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <1989Dec7.172233.10130@chinet.chi.il.us> <398@bilver.UUCP> <10650@attcan.UUCP>
Reply-To: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
Lines: 29

In article <10650@attcan.UUCP> ram@attcan.UUCP (Richard Meesters) writes:
> Password aging is optional (at least on System V) and, while I don't like it
> any better than you, if the system administrator deems it necessary to keep
> proper security on his machines, then I have no choice but to go along with
> it.  Lets face it, it is more secure than everyone using the same password
> over and over on a number of systems ad infinitum.

Password aging makes it more likely that a user will use the same password
on a large number of machines, simply because it increases the number of
things that user needs to remember.

I change my passwords when *I* need to and have the leisure to.

How about fropping this chain, though. It's a lot less interesting than
some of the more exotic possibilties:

	* Stripping everything from the password file but name, password,
	  user id, and home.
	* Getting rid of the GROUP concept altogether. Replace it with
	  a set of secondary user-ids and ACLs on files.
	* Reading shell, long name, etc from a text file under the
	  user's control.

What else?
-- 
`-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. <peter@ficc.uu.net>.
 'U`  Also <peter@ficc.lonestar.org> or <peter@sugar.lonestar.org>.
"It was just dumb luck that Unix managed to break through the Stupidity Barrier
and become popular in spite of its inherent elegance." -- gavin@krypton.sgi.com