Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!deimos.cis.ksu.edu!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!gistdev!flint
From: flint@gistdev.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.sys5
Subject: Re: 'ls -n' opens password file for rea
Message-ID: <7400003@gistdev>
Date: 19 May 89 17:13:00 GMT
References: <1326@rivm05.UUCP>
Lines: 17
Nf-ID: #R:rivm05.UUCP:1326:gistdev:7400003:000:1110
Nf-From: gistdev.UUCP!flint    May 19 12:13:00 1989


In the "what I'd really like to see" department, would be to get rid of the
one-level username system we have, and go to a hierarchial username system.
(For example, instead of being identified as "joe", a user might be
identified as admin/acct/joe if Joe was in the Administration Department,
Accounting Section of the company.  If there was another Joe doing working
in customer support, he'd be ops/cs/joe (for Operations/Customer Support/Joe)
There would be many passwd files, not just one: and many advantages would
result.  Search time through an excessively long passwd file would be a lot
less, a login name wouldn't have to be unique system-wide, the whole system
wouldn't die if the passwd file got corrupted (you'd be able to switch to
a different group and log in and fix it), etc.

Of course, doing this would create a lot of compatibility problems, but I think
there are probably answers to them.  It would still be useful to have a single
number correspond to a single user.  (to maintain compatibility with the file
system, and also so that a single user could be in multiple groups at once.)