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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!ccplumb
From: ccplumb@watnot.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: login gripes
Message-ID: <12736@watnot.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 29-Mar-87 23:51:16 EST
Article-I.D.: watnot.12736
Posted: Sun Mar 29 23:51:16 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Mar-87 04:36:02 EST
References: <8703231450.AA18626@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: ccplumb@watnot.UUCP (Colin Plumb)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 18

In article <8703231450.AA18626@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> lamy@ai.toronto.edu writes:
>Two puzzling things about 'login'. 

I know the answer to one..

>a) What on earth does it do between the time I hit return on the username line
>   and the time it gives me back the Password prompt? Can't it turn echoing
>   off right away so that when I am in a hurry the first few characters of
>   my password don't end up on the screen? 

It still has to read the /etc/passwd entry.  If the password field is
null, it doesn't ask for a password.  Thus, the delay.  (Do you have a
`who' login?)
--
	-Colin Plumb (watmath!watnot!ccplumb)

Silly quote:
The early bird will find his can of worms.