[Triumf-linux-managers] FYI - yppasswd deprecated

[Andrew Daviel]

On Fri, 28 Sep 2012, Konstantin Olchanski wrote:

> Without yppasswd, how does one change the password on an NIS cluster?
> Does the regular passwd work?

Yes, passwd works from NIS slaves. I tried this on trcomp01 (SL5.7) and
trcomp02 (SL 6.3) as a normal user. It requires the existing password to 
be entered (even if you have logged in with SSH with a key and forgotten 
the password...)

When changing the password as root on behalf of a user, I believe you 
must still do so on the NIS master viz.
#  passwd joe ; cd /car/yp ; make

That I had also tested on trcomp00. On an NIS slave, I get e.g.
   #  passwd joe
   Retype new password:
   NIS password could not be changed.
   passwd: Authentication token manipulation error
so I presume that it only works on the master.

> Have you tested any of these before telling us to remove yppasswd?

I have not found in which release yppasswd became deprecated. I don't 
recommend removing yppasswd from anything earlier than SL5 without 
checking.

The message was an FYI for people like myself who may not have realized 
that you no longer need to use yppasswd on NIS clusters.

It might be easier to chmod 0 yppasswd, or replace it with a note to use 
passwd. Kel suggested the RPM as a way to keep it removed 
regardless of updates, since the yp-tools package is still, I presume, 
required for ypwhich and ypset etc. even if yppasswd, ypchfn and ypchsh 
are no longer needed.


Andrew