tomc@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Tom Corsetti) (06/09/89)
Hi!
I have seen the nobody account (user number = -2) in just about
every passwd file that I can remember. I have never asked myself
what purpose this account serves. Since I always say it, I just
came to accept its presence, til now. A minute ago, I got email
from a novice UNIX person asking me what purpose it serves. Needless
to say, I was at a loss for words. Can someone out there explain
the function of the nobody account? Thanx in advance!
- Tom kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (06/09/89)
> /* Written by tomc@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov */ > Can someone out there explain the function of the nobody account? > - Tom The root uid (0) is translated to (-2) when accessing files located on NFS mounted file systems. This feature can be turned off on individual hosts, but it is the default on all the NFS implementations I've seen. Having the "nobody" account defined with a uid of -2, means that when you do an "ls", you will see the owner name "nobody" instead of the uid number "-2". If there's another reason for having the "nobody" account, I've yet to run into it. Patrick Wolfe (pat@kai.com, kailand!pat) System Manager, Kuck & Associates, Inc.