um.. the uid and gid are used on a unix file systems to identify permission levels of access to files and directories. they allow an administrator to compartementalize access on a *nix box. they are closely tied with the applications.... chmod chown and chgrp.
pw_uid is == uid from the /etc/passwd file same with pw_gid they were probably not identified in documentation because they are pretty evident if you came from an *nix file system admin background.... they do have the added benefit of being used as a reference for the functionality that dave pointed out. kenneth gf brown > X-Istence wrote: > > > > > On Nov 18, 2004, at 3:44 PM, Matthew Walker wrote: > > > >> What are the pw_uid and pw_gid fields in the user info > actually used > >> for? I did a quick read through the docs, and couldn't find any > >> information about what they do other than the fact that > they're the > >> user id and group id. > >> > >> Matthew > >> > > > > They are named to confuse people. :P > > > > Actually i have no clue, but there should be some documentation on > > them, > > and they should possible be renamed to something more > suiting for the > > task they are doing or being used for. > > The GID field is used for setting user flags, such things > like NO_PASSWD_CHNG NO_POP NO_SMTP NO_WEBMAIL NO_IMAP > BOUNCE_MAIL NO_RELAY NO_DIALUP > > Don't know how the work, never used them. Look in the src, vmoduser.c > for info. > > DAve > >
