what things can cause yppasswd failure?

[Matthew Seaman]

On Tue, Apr 20, 2004 at 02:47:03PM -0700, Jin Guojun [NCS] wrote:
> "Jin Guojun [NCS]" wrote:
> 
> > We have experience very strange problem on using NIS over FreeBSD 4.x and 5.x.
> > Some uses can change passwd where other users cannot.
> >
> > case 1:    Use FreeBSD 5.1 as NIS server -- NIS client is a FreeBSD 4.9 host
> > I can change my passwd any time and any where, and most people cannot.
> > If I change my home directory to anywhere else in the master.passwd file,
> > re-make in /var/yp directory, then I cannot change my passwd any more.
> > It causes yppasswdd dying on signal 11, which most users encountered.
> >
> > case 2: Use FreeBSD 4.10-BETA as NIS server -- same NIS client
> > I have no problem to change passwd, other users do. Failure will not
> > kill yppasswdd, but it returns following error:
> >
> > passwd: failed to change NIS password: RPC: Server can't decode arguments
> >
> > After this message I still can change my passwd.  Also, changing my home
> > directory in /var/yp/master.passwd and re-making DO NOT AFFECT
> > me to change passwd.
> 
> By searching mail archive, I did not find related problem.
> This is what we found:
> 
>     If users login with bash, these users are not able to change their passwd.
>     The error is:
> 
>     passwd: failed to change NIS password: RPC: Server can't decode arguments
> 
> Probably bash is not part of default FreeBSD syste, NIS system has not been
> tested
> with bash for changing password.

Interesting: nice work deducing that.  This is clearly a bug --
certainly if rpc.yppasswdd dies with a SEGV, which should never
happen.  Please do report this problem via send-pr(1).

However, I think there must be something different about your systems,
as bash(1) is a popular shell and if this was a general problem I
should think someone would have complained about it by now.

Does this apply to other shells than bash -- eg zsh(1), ksh(1)?

Does using the '-v' (verbose logging) flag on rpc.yppasswdd get you
any more information?

Does this still apply if there's an entry for bash in /etc/shells on
the NIS server?

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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