transferring data (after losing all non-root logins)

[Terry Lambert]

David Syphers wrote:
> I recently forgot my root password, rebooted single-user and changed it,
> and immediately afterwards the computer denied the existence of any
> non-root users (home directories still there for those that had them,
> they still have login shells, etc.). This was the only change made to
> the system. This is a -current system from late April that was in storage
> for a while.

There was a change to the database file format that dealt with
byte order independence.

You can probably use the older pwd_mkdb and recover all your
accounts by reverting the "upgrade" from using the new utility.
See also the CVS log for the passwd program, and the discussion
on the -current mailing list (I believe the change was PHK's
idea; I didn't participate in the discussion).

-- Terry