Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!


Click here to return to the 'How to find users below 501?' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
How to find users below 501?
Authored by: Han Solo on Aug 29, '03 01:19:14PM

So the Accounts control panel will not show user accounts below 501. Seems a simple way for savvy unauthorized users to hide from the less-sophisticated the very knowledge of the former's account. (Especially if they set flags to make their account invisible in the Finder.) Is there a basic Unix command that lists all accounts (UID?) on a system -- preferably with information about what their level of system access is? TIA.



[ Reply to This | # ]
NetInfo Manager
Authored by: hayne on Aug 29, '03 01:37:11PM

On OS X, the user info is held in a database called netinfo. The application "Netinfo Manager" (in Applications/Utilities) can be used to look at the user info.



[ Reply to This | # ]
How to find users below 501?
Authored by: enigmamf on Aug 29, '03 01:37:45PM

OS-X will consult the entries in the NetInfo database, which you can look at using the NetInfo utility in /Applications/Utilities/NetInfo . Click on "Users", and you will get a list of users; click on any user to see various information, such as UID, home directory, default shell. Any user (such as automatic users generated to run a particular task, e.g. the 'www' pseudo-user) who should not be able to log in should have "/dev/null" for a shell.



[ Reply to This | # ]
How to find users below 501?
Authored by: matsur on Aug 29, '03 05:37:04PM

Actually, I was told that setting a shell as /dev/null may pose security risks, so the correct way to do it is to set it to /usr/bin/false or /sbin/nologin. IANAUSA (I Am Not A Unix Systems Administrator), so take it with a grain of salt.



[ Reply to This | # ]
How to find users below 501?
Authored by: SeanAhern on Sep 01, '03 12:12:40AM

Others have pointed you at using NetInfo to get this information. Here's the "basic UNIX command" that you were looking for that does the same thing:

nidump passwd .

This will dump what /etc/passwd would look like on a "normal" UNIX system.

(Warning: I hear rumors that the behavior of nidump may change in 10.3.)

---
-Sean



[ Reply to This | # ]