removing users from /etc/passwd file

[Mazen Al-Jarrah]

hello everyone

I have the following users in /etc/passwd file:

daemon:*:1:5::/:/sbin/sh
bin:*:2:2::/usr/bin:/sbin/sh
sys:*:3:3::/:
adm:*:4:4::/var/adm:/sbin/sh
uucp:*:5:3::/var/spool/uucppublic:/usr/lbin/uucp/uucico
lp:*:9:7::/var/spool/lp:/sbin/sh
nuucp:*:11:11::/var/spool/uucppublic:/usr/lbin/uucp/uucico
hpdb:*:27:1:ALLBASE:/:/sbin/sh
nobody:*:-2:-24::/:



what users I should keep and what I can delete
and why...?

thanking you in advance for your cooperation and help

[Mark Grant · Accepted solution]

I personally wouldn't delete any of them. True that you might not need some of them now e.g. uucp but at some point you might try and get "cu" or "uucp" running and it will tak eyou ages to find out why it doesn't work.

Some of these you actually need anyway. There is no advantage in removing them.

[Pete Randall]

Absolutely *DO NOT* delete any of these users. These are required for certain system functions. They are not "login" accounts. The "*" in the password field prevents anyone from logging in using this ID - therefore they aren't a security risk and there is nothing to be gained by deleting them.


Pete

[Massimo Bianchi]

They are used by the kernel for various tasks, and should not be deleted.

I know the purpose of these:

lp : for the spooler and printing system
uucp, nuucp : used for unic to unix copy, old but still used sometines
daemon,bin, sys: they own the greatest part of the OS



Massimo

[Jayan_2]

The users you mentioned are the system users created automaticlly by the HPUX during the system installation and is very much required for the normal functioning of the server.Say for example lp user is created so that lp files in the lp queue will be owned by the spooling system.bin system user owns many commands in unix system.nobody is the user id associated for some inter process communication etc .

SO THESE SYSTEM USERS SHOULD NOT BE REMOVED.

best regards
Jinu

[Steven E. Protter]

eek!

Don't touch them.

daemon is the user that creates and owns certain daemons. Stuff like the ability to read and write to disks.

bin owns lots of root executables.


lp owns and runs the print spooler.

Nobody owns certain processes.


eek!

Seriously, don't touch any of them.


SEP

[Keith Bevan_1]

Hi,

DO NOT remove any of the accounts that you have mentioned, as they are all used by the operating system.

The '*' denotes a no login account so there is no fear of users using these login accounts to access the system. You never know one day you may want to use some of them like uucp that has already been mentioned.

Have a look at getting your hands on hp-ux 11i security by Chris Wong that discusses at length amongst other things the password file on a trusted and non-trusted system. There are some useful pointers in her book.
(Even if you do not use 11i its worth a read !)

Keith