[plug] re: take the test

[Greg Mildenhall]

On Sun, 8 Aug 1999, John Summerfield wrote:
> > On Sun, 8 Aug 1999, John Summerfield wrote:
> > Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I meant (as did the people who wrote the
> > question, one can but assume) creating the account manually, rather than
> > using such a script/binary. Edit /etc/passwd, /etc/groups, create home
> > directory, etc, etc.
> There was nothing in the text posted to this list to suggest THAT.

Well, actually, there was. The original question. It's pretty obvious what
it means, though I can accept that it can have different meanings to the
pathologically obtuse.

For reference: "Why is it necessary to use "chown" when creating new user 
                accounts via the command line?"

> > Why I can't imagine there is a compiled language out there more
> > appropriate for [adduser] than perl or bash, and it must be a real
> > pain not being able to look at exactly what the script does without
> > finding the source package. Is this just RH's "infinite wisdom" at
> > work?

> C and C++ are both perfectly adequate for the task.
Which is why I used the phrase "more appropriate". Perl or Bash would be
far more appropriate.

> So too Modula, Pascal. I don't know about you, but I don't want know
> all the details of how an aeroplane works before I use one to get from
> point A to point B. 
That is because you are not a sysadmin. If you were, it would be your job
to know how your systems adduser script worked _in_detail_.


> I'll go looking, perhaps, if it doesn't produce the desired results.
But if you were an administrator, you'd go looking even when it did
worked, to make sure your modifications didn't upset it.
I don't see why one should have to search through source packages and
the horrific C code you get when you don't use a language fit to the task.

-Greg