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Mac OS X has always used POSIX compliance as a selling point. Would the change you're suggesting break that?
by biggieshellz 9y ago
Mac OS X has always used POSIX compliance as a selling point. Would the change you're suggesting break that?
- zbentley 9y agoI think they have already broken POSIX compliance in this area. A lot of the /etc/passwd entries don't do anything by default (like the root entry, in this case, whose significance in that file changes based on an external, second, unrelated-to-POSIX auth system). While the file is still there in the same form it would be on a truly POSIX compliant system, the functionality is not. The change I proposed, or other equivalent changes, might "loudly"/fatally break programs that rely on the /etc/passwd style of auth, but if those programs are depending on POSIX-compliant behavior based on that file on OSX systems already, they are likely "silently"/more subtly broken (which, when it comes to code that interacts with the security system, is a much worse thing, I think). It's the same old accessibility/security compromise as ever though.