On 17/09/10 13:35, alan c wrote: > On 16/09/10 09:57, Alan Lord (News) wrote: >> One gotcha that you should be aware of when using a fresh operating >> system install is that usernames and groups in linux are actually really >> numbers (UID and GID) and the name is mapped to the UID in /etc/passwd. <snip /> > To help me be more clear on this: > Am I correct in understanding that as long as the original > /home/username > is copied or backed up while being signed on as first user, then the > subsequent paste into the new install will be ok?
Hi Alan, How does this work? When every user is created on a linux system they are assigned a UID number (and usually a GID of the same). These tend to happen sequentially so the first user (the one you create when installing Ubuntu) will get UID 1000. The next 1001 etc etc - there *may* be gaps as some applications might create users when they get installed. Although looking at my /etc/passwd it looks as though Ubuntu uses UIDs < 1000 for applications. So: /home/user1 will be stored on the file system with UID/GID of 1000. /home/user2 1001 /home/user3 1002 etc etc, It isn't a *major* headache of the UIDs from one system to the next don't match when moving a backup, you just have to be aware of this and change as necessary: either use: sudo vipw to edit /etc/password and change the user's UID/GID to the right ones, or: sudo chown newuser: -R /home/newuser I'd be a little more careful with this one in case there are any system files/hidden files stored in your home dir. I don't think there should be but I'm sure a quick search/find could tell you. HTH Al -- The Open Learning Centre http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
