Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!sunic!dkuug!daimi!protonen
From: protonen@daimi.aau.dk (Lars J|dal)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: passwd file
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.092450.8094@daimi.aau.dk>
Date: 25 Apr 91 09:24:50 GMT
References: <1991Apr23.030431.3481@skypod.uucp>
Sender: protonen@daimi.aau.dk (Lars J|dal)
Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark
Lines: 33

marc@skypod.uucp (Marc Fournier) writes:
...
>	Why won't my passwd file keep any new accounts?  If I reboot, the
>passwd file resets to the original values.  Is there anyway around this
>or something I'm forgetting to do?  BTW, I'm still on floppy's.  Does
>that make any difference?  We're looking at hard drive installation
>by the weekend, so if that does make a difference, then hopefully the
>problem goes away...right?
...

Your problem is that the passwd file is kept on the RAM-disk. This is
because it has to be accessible (e.g. ls -l uses it to get the user names
from the uid), regardless what disks the user has mounted.
So, when you edit your passwd file it is only changed on the RAM-disk,
and when your reboot, the old passwd file is loaded from the root disk.
What you has to do is either:

1) Mount the disk with the root file system image (the root disk) to e.g.
   /user and edit the passwd file /user/etc/passwd
or
2) Edit your passwd file /etc/passwd on the RAM-disk, mount the root disk
   to /user and cp /etc/passwd /user/etc/passwd

Remember to type sync (or just log out), reboot, and voila! Your new
account has survived.
If still confused, E-mail me.

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|      Lars J|dal       |       (put your favourite quotation here)        |
| protonen@daimi.aau.dk |                                                  |
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| Computer Science Department  -  Aarhus University  -  Aarhus  -  Denmark |
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