Re: /etc/shells (was Re: procmail

[junya () fsdirect com (Junya Ho)]

Why not have an file /etc/rights or something, which contains the rights
for users on the system (with a standard format, whatever it may be), and
have a simple API which any package maintainer (of sendmail, wu-ftpd, etc)
could use to look up permissions within that file. The API would also have
to have calls to maintain (add, change, delete) rights and users, which
would be used by the sysadmin.

One of the issues of extending an already existing file (/etc/passwd say)
is that it would take a long time to have it supported by everyone (at
least on the commercial side), which would preclude timely adoption and
cross-platform portability.

Of course, it'd only be worthwhile if enough packages required the knowing
of specific rights - pipes in .forward, .rhosts files, ftp access, shell
access, ability to change shell & gecos info, ability to su &c.


junya ho