From: H. Peter Anvin N9ITP (hpa@ahab.eecs.nwu.edu)
Date: 06/03/93


From: hpa@ahab.eecs.nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin N9ITP)
Subject: Re: xdm and shadow passwords?
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 22:01:30 GMT

In article <1993May31.194218.27374@rd.hydro.on.ca> of comp.os.linux,
  twriter@rd.hydro.on.ca writes:
> gaa@world.std.com (Gordon A Acocella) writes:
>
>
> >I just got the latest SLS distribution, and xdm doesn't seem to like
> >the "shadow" passwords. If I assign a password to an account, then
> >xdm won't let me log in with that account. I've looked through the
> >FAQ, but couldn't find anything about this. Is there anything I can
> >do to fix this? Do I need to get the source for xdm?
>
> There's a little known version of xdm which uses the shadow password
> file. I forget the exact name, something like xdmshadow-bin.tar.z, but
> you can find the binary on sunsite. I suggest you grep the index file
> for xdm. Note: you won't find the binary on tsx, just the source.

Another note: there is a small, subtle bug in that source, which can
be a dangerous security hole. Apply the following patch to dm.h:

*** dm.h.old Thu Jun 3 16:55:59 1993
--- dm.h Fri May 28 12:48:10 1993
***************
*** 234,240 ****
  };
  
  /* setgroups is not covered by POSIX, arg type varies */
! #if defined(SYSV) || defined(SVR4)
  #define GID_T gid_t
  #else
  #define GID_T int
--- 234,240 ----
  };
  
  /* setgroups is not covered by POSIX, arg type varies */
! #if defined(SYSV) || defined(SVR4) || defined(linux)
  #define GID_T gid_t
  #else
  #define GID_T int

... this will solve the problem.

        /hpa

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