Adduser devel - Jun 2007 - Bug#427860: adduser: please add debconf question about UID ranges

Package: adduser
Version: 3.102
Severity: normal

Is it possible to add a low priority debconf question so that adminstrators
can preseed what the uid ranges should be, for dynamically allocated user
accounts and groups?

Thanks!

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, ''stable'')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-4-686
Locale: LANG=en_AU, LC_CTYPE=en_AU (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]       1.5.11       Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                      1:4.0.18.1-7 change and administer password and
ii  perl-base                   5.8.8-7      The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbis

adduser recommends no packages.

-- debconf information excluded

On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 10:30:17AM +1000, Geoff Crompton
wrote:
> Is it possible to add a low priority debconf question so that adminstrators
> can preseed what the uid ranges should be, for dynamically allocated user
> accounts and groups?
This is already configurable via adduser.conf. Why does this need to
be in debconf?

I do not see that this is a setting that needs to be modifyable by an
end user who is unable to find and edit a configuration file.

Greetings
Marc

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Haber         | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse
im Header
Mannheim, Germany  |  lose things."    Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 72739834
Nordisch by Nature |  How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 3221 2323190

Marc Haber wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 10:30:17AM +1000, Geoff Crompton wrote:
>> Is it possible to add a low priority debconf question so that
adminstrators
>> can preseed what the uid ranges should be, for dynamically allocated
user
>> accounts and groups?
> 
> This is already configurable via adduser.conf. Why does this need to
> be in debconf?
> 
> I do not see that this is a setting that needs to be modifyable by an
> end user who is unable to find and edit a configuration file.
> 
> Greetings
> Marc
> 
The use case I have in mind is for a system administrator doing new
installs. If they can set this option in a preseeding file, then
whenever they do a new install, this setting will conform to what they
need on their site.

This is only really necessary if the administrator wants to
automatically create a ''normal'' user in the debian installer,
and their
site policy means the uid range is different to the Debian defaults.
Otherwise they can just do as you suggest, and set adduser.conf directly.

Without this debconf option and preseeding ability the system
administrator has to:
 * not create a user during install
 * patch adduser.conf post install
 * then add the user

It''s not something I''d expect a normal user to need, hence
I''d recommend
low priority to the question in debconf.

Cheers
-- 
Geoff Crompton
Debian System Administrator
Strategic Data
+61 3 9340 9000

On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 05:19:07PM +1000, Geoff Crompton
wrote:
> The use case I have in mind is for a system administrator doing new
> installs. If they can set this option in a preseeding file, then
> whenever they do a new install, this setting will conform to what they
> need on their site.
Preseeding is not the only way to roll out configuration changes to a
multiude of systems. Additionally, a site running a lot of systems
that would warrant pre-seeding of this value would be better off with
a centrally managed directory service.

Greetings
Marc

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Haber         | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse
im Header
Mannheim, Germany  |  lose things."    Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 72739834
Nordisch by Nature |  How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 3221 2323190

severity 427860 wishlist
thanks
This one time, at band camp, Geoff Crompton said:
> Is it possible to add a low priority debconf question so that adminstrators
> can preseed what the uid ranges should be, for dynamically allocated user
> accounts and groups?
The major problem with changes like this is that adding something to
adduser means adding something to debian-installer.  I know they are
unhappy about adding new debconf questions, even low priority, during
the install.  Since there are better ways to do this (you can ship hooks
in a custom d-i image, I believe), I am inclined not to do this.

Take care,
-- 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
|   ,''''`.                                            Stephen
Gran |
|  : :'' :                                        sgran at debian.org |
|  `. `''                        Debian user, admin, and developer |
|    `-                                     http://www.debian.org |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
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Processing commands for control at bugs.debian.org:
> severity 427860 wishlist
Bug#427860: adduser: please add debconf question about UID ranges
Severity set to `wishlist'' from `normal''
> thanks
Stopping processing here.

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Your message dated Fri, 08 Jun 2007 09:15:32 +1000
with message-id <46689194.70309 at strategicdata.com.au>
and subject line [Adduser-devel] Bug#427860: adduser: please add debconf
question about UID ranges
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

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Subject: adduser: please add debconf question about UID ranges
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:30:17 +1000
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From: Geoff Crompton <geoff.crompton at strategicdata.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Adduser-devel] Bug#427860: adduser: please add debconf question
 about UID ranges
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 09:15:32 +1000
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> Stephen Gran wrote:
> > The major problem with changes like this is that adding something to
> > adduser means adding something to debian-installer.  I know they are
> > unhappy about adding new debconf questions, even low priority, during
> > the install.  Since there are better ways to do this (you can ship
hooks
> > in a custom d-i image, I believe), I am inclined not to do this.
> >
> > Take care,
> 
> Thats fair enough, I wasn''t aware of the impact on d-i, I thought
d-i
> would invoke the adduser package. I''ll look into the custom hooks.

Well, that debconf question could also have been "for internal use
only", making it preseedable. That wouldn''t interfere with d-i in
such
case and would even not need more translation.

Geoff, please also note that the *first* created user UID *is*
preseedable by using  passwd/user-uid. That may help you in solving
some issues with automated installs maybe.


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