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From: waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org (Fred 'The Rebel' van Kempen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: passwd file
Message-ID: <91042810566@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org>
Date: 28 Apr 91 04:05:04 GMT
References: <1991Apr23.030431.3481@skypod.uucp>
Organization: MicroWalt Corporation, for MINIX Software Development
Lines: 20

marc@skypod.uucp (Marc Fournier) wrote:
> 
> 	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?

Wrong.  RTFM !!
Standard MINIX (gna... :-) uses a root file system in RAM by default.
This means, that most directories in / are actually RAM, not on disk.
So, when you add a new user to /etc/passwd, it will be gone after a
reboot, unless you copy the changed files to the RAM disk image
("Root File System" diskette, or /dev/hd3 partition on HD).

Fred.
--
MicroWalt Corporation, for MINIX Development	waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org
Tel (+31) 252 230 205, Hoefbladhof  27, 2215 DV  VOORHOUT, The Netherlands
	"An Operating System is what the _USERS_ think of it- me"