change max username length

Gayn Winters gaynw at bristolsystems.com
Sat Dec 17 09:40:37 PST 2005


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org 
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of 
> Lowell Gilbert
> Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 8:54 AM
> To: aksis
> Cc: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: change max username length
> 
> 
> aksis <aksis at idea-anvil.net> writes:
> 
> > Is there a simple was to change the max username length?
> 
> Check the archives of this list; this has been 
> discussed more than once in the last month.
> _______________________________________________

>From man adduser:

The user name is restricted to whatever pw(8) will
	     accept.  Generally this means it may contain only lowercase
char-
	     acters or digits.	Maximum length is 16 characters.  The
reasons
	     for this limit are historical.  Given that people have
tradition-
	     ally wanted to break this limit for aesthetic reasons, it
has
	     never been of great importance to break such a basic
fundamental
	     parameter in UNIX.  You can change UT_NAMESIZE in <utmp.h>
and
	     recompile the world; people have done this and it works,
but you
	     will have problems with any precompiled programs, or source
that
	     assumes the 8-character name limit and NIS.  The NIS
protocol
	     mandates an 8-character username.	If you need a longer
login
	     name for e-mail addresses, you can define an alias in
	     /etc/mail/aliases.

Plus here's a pointer to one discussion.  
http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/questions/2005-04/1879.h
tml

Our only application for this is email, and aliases work fine.

-gayn

Bristol Systems Inc.
714/532-6776
www.bristolsystems.com 




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