Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!dri500!slootman
From: slootman@dri.nl (Paul Slootman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Length of User names
Message-ID: <1088@dri500.dri.nl>
Date: 3 Jun 91 06:16:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: dri500.1088
References: <27070@adm.brl.mil> <1991Jun1.194721.25383@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu> <16322@smoke.brl.mil>
Organization: DataCount Register Informatici, Wierden, The Netherlands
Lines: 21

In article <16322@smoke.brl.mil> gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>For an example of why hacking the system interface is harmful, consider
>those applications that attempt to get usernames and provide only 8+1
>characters of storage for them, because that was a known feature of the
>operating system implementation.  Longer user names will break such
>programs, and no it is NOT practical to find them all and change them.

On at least the ICL System V.2 systems, who -q would output multiple
entries for users who were logged in once, if there were people logged
in with lognames of 8 characters. My guess is that exactly 8 bytes were
reserved for the logname. While sorting the list of names (which who -q
in that version System V did) I suppose something goes wrong... ICL said
that it wasn't a bug, I should use lognames of max. 7 bytes, i.e. it
was my fault.

Paul.
-- 
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:slootman@dri.nl : When you get to the point where you think that nothing
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