This is actually a security "feature". All unix processes have to run as one user or another. System processes generally run as the user root, but for a process such as MySQL to run as root would be a big security breach, so it creates a user with no privledges to run under. This user also becomes the owner of any files that the process needs to have write access to, adding another layer of security. In theory you could have a single generic user account that all of these processes run under (some Linux systems use 'nobody') but this could get messy so it customary to have different accounts such as mail, news, apache, mysql, etc.
Paul -- Paul Lieberman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Engineer 541-552-6962 Computing Services Center Southern Oregon University Ashland, OR >>> Erik Price <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 02/06/02 20:30 PM >>> On Wednesday, February 6, 2002, at 09:31 PM, Richard Larsen wrote: > I noticed today that I have a bunch of new users installed on my > system. Usernames include News Server, MySQL Database Server and Game > Files Owner. I queried this on Macintoshian Achaia, ArsTechnica's Mac > site, and somebody there said that Fink installed these users. > > Why would Fink need to install new users? Was I informed of this as the > progress reports flew by in the command line? > > Basically, why? What's going on? You have installed a package which has a dependency on the 'passwd' package. 'passwd' is a sort of general-purpose package that sets up a couple of extra users on your system in the event that you someday decide to install packages that require these extra users. If you decide that you cannot bear the thought of these extra users on your system (note that there should be no security problems since they cannot be used to log into your system [they have no passwords]), you may consider deleting them, though I wouldn't recommend it personally. If you were to do so, though, be sure to use niutil or NetInfo Manager, NOT the System Preferences -> Users pane. Check the archives for more info. Also, Finlay is the maintainer of the 'passwd' package, if you have direct questions about it. Erik _______________________________________________ Fink-beginners mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-beginners _______________________________________________ Fink-beginners mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-beginners
