password failure- after mergmaster

[Chuck Swiger]

On Jul 9, 2007, at 1:25 PM, Peter Boosten wrote:
>> You let mergemaster clobber the password file.
>>
>> So in single user, "mount -a", then use vipw to recreate your  
>> accounts
>> in the password database. On exit from vipw use passwd to set the
>> passwords.
>
> Having read this I must admit that it's a complete mystery to me why
> mergemaster would touch your password file at all...

Because sometimes new versions of the OS come with new built-in user  
accounts, which need to be added to the existing passwd or groups  
databases somehow?

-- 
-Chuck