Re: cannot log in: 6.0 upgrade broke PAM / pwdb

[Balaji Ramani <balajir research nj nec com>]

Ben Liblit wrote:
> 
> I recently upgraded a Pentium box from mixed redhat-5.2 / Rawhide /
> Starbuck to redhat-6.0.  I now find that I cannot log into the system,
> either via "login" or via [xgk]dm.
> 
> If I boot in single-user mode, I can gain root access and peer at the
> syslog.  It appears that the upgrade broke PAM or libpwdb:
> 
>     PAM_pwdb[###]: get passwd; pwdb: structure is no longer valid
>     login[###]: FAILED LOGIN 1 FROM (null) FOR root, Authentication
>                 failure
> 
> I have re-downloaded and reinstalled the util-linux-2.9o-13,
> pam-0.66-18, pwdb-0.58-3, and glibc-2.1.1-6 RPM's, but to no avail.
> I've even tried rebuilding pwdb from its SRPM.  No good.
> 
> The system uses traditional Unix /etc/passwd and /etc/group, no shadow
> files or NIS.  Nobody can log in:  root, non-root, empty password,
> non-empty-password....

I faced a similar problem during the upgrade to 6.0.  But my problem was
different in that only users with empty passwords could not log.  But
users with a valid password field could log.  After looking into the
issue, I found out that the problem was with libpwdb.  I have modified
libpwdb and sent the patch to the authors.  In case you are interested, I
can send you the patch also.

Balaji