Question on /etc/nsswitch.conf

[Florian Weimer]

On 09/28/2017 03:54 PM, Zack Weinberg wrote:
> I expect there are, at least, a lot of existing installations with
> "passwd: compat" in their nsswitch.conf, but probably most of them
> don't use NIS.
> 
> I was under the impression that the only thing compat does is look for
> the +:::::: notation in /etc/passwd and forward to NIS.  If so, or
> even if it's more complicated than that, maybe the Right Thing is to
> build a libnss_compat.so even when !BUILD_OBSOLETE_NSL, but have it
> error out on +:::::: rather than forwarding to NIS.  The big problem I
> see with this idea is it might make it harder for TIRPC to drop in a
> replacement.  Thoughts?

It is possible to redirect the lookup to something else besides NIS, 
using passwd_compat, group_compat, shadow_compat stanzas in 
/etc/nsswitch.conf.

Thanks,
Florian