passwd file corrupted on 10.20 HP-UX

[Sy-hoang Truong_1]

Hello all of you,

What's happening if the /etc/passwd is corrupted? And how to avoid this case.

Thanks

[Dan Hull]

Depending on the corruption, people probably won't be able to log in. You may
still be able to login as root, especially at the system console.

In a worst case, you would have to reboot into single-user mode. You can then
copy a fresh password file from /usr/newconfig/etc that has only the basic user
accounts on it.

[Robert Gamble_3]

One way to prevent corruption, is to _always_ make a backup copy when editing
the passwd file. I add my initials and the date to the end of the file name.

Another way is to use vipw. (see man page for full description) That way, if
the passwd file is already being edited, you will be told to try again later,
preventing corruption when two or more are trying to edit the file.

Good Luck!