Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!limbo!taylor
From: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: Re: Elm and & in GCOS field of passwd file
Message-ID: <1332@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 12 Oct 90 20:09:02 GMT
References: <1284@n_kulcscs.kuleuven.ac.be>
Reply-To: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor)
Organization: Intuitive Systems, Mountain View, CA: +1 (415) 966-1151
Lines: 44

> Elm interprets an '&' in the GCOS field of an entry in the password file
> as the corresponding user name _in upper case_.

Interesting behaviour... in the original code (initialize.c):

		      if (pass->pw_gecos[i] == '&') {
			full_username[j] = '\0';
			strcat(full_username, expand_logname());
			j = strlen(full_username);
		      }

and further down in the code...

	char *expand_logname()
	{
		/** Return logname in a nice format (for expanding "&" 
		    in the /etc/passwd file) **/

		static char buffer[SLEN];
		register int i;

		if (strlen(username) == 0)
	  	  buffer[0] = '\0';
		else {
	  	  buffer[0] = toupper(username[0]);
	
	  	  for (i=1; username[i] != '\0'; i++)
	    	    buffer[i] = tolower(username[i]);
  
	  	  buffer[i] = '\0';
		}
	
		return( (char *) buffer);	
	}

It *used* to do what you're asking for... 

					From the peanut gallery,

						-- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California

taylor@limbo.intuitive.com    or   {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor