Re: RedHat user/group names ?

[James Ralston <qralston+ml redhat-taroon andrew cmu edu>]

On 2003-08-05 at 16:23:29-0400 "Kern, Thomas" <Thomas Kern hq doe gov> wrote:
> I am new to RedHat systems and not very experienced with other linux
> distributions.  Under our TurboLinux systems, we use some UPPERCASE
> group names and some MixedCase user names.  This level of RedHat
> does not want me to use any UPPERCASE character in either user or
> group names.  Is this just the way RedHat works or have I missed
> some configuration setting somewhere?

As far as I have been able to determine, there is no standard
*anywhere* on valid formats for Unix usernames and group names.  Not
POSIX, not X/Open, not the LSB, nothing.

Of all the standardization efforts that have been undertaken in the
world of Unix, it surprises me that this issue hasn't been addressed.

The only "standard" that I know of is to attempt to create the desired
username and/or group name on the target system.  If it works, then
the username and/or group name you selected is valid for that
particular version of that particular OS.  You have to repeat this
procedure for every OS and version combination you might possibly run.
(And then hope that none of the OSes become more strict in the future
and invalidate your existing usernames and/or group names.)

This sucks.

-- 
James Ralston, Information Technology
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA