Re: [PATCH] Map all pserver users to a given user

[Larry Jones]

Philippe Troin writes:
> 
> The enclosed patch adds a new keyword 'MapAllUsersTo' to the
> CVSROOT/config repository file. The behavior is:
> 
>    users connecting via the pserver will get mapped to this system
>    user unless they are present in the CVSROOT/passwd file and the
>    CVSROOT/passwd file contains a third field giving another system
>    user to map to.
> 
> This is particularly useful when one wants to avoid duplicating the
> password information from /etc/passwd to CVSROOT/passwd, yet still map
> all connecting users to a single system user for easier repository
> management.

A while back, I wrote a patch that provided similar functionality and
more.  I'm interested to hear opinions on which, if either, should be
included in CVS.

My patch allowed specifying "*" for the username and/or the password in
the CVSROOT/passwd file.  A "*" for a username would match any username.
 If the password was also "*" or the third field (system user) was
omitted, only valid system users would be able to log on; if you
specified an explicit passwords and a system user, anyone knowing the
password could log on with any username.  A "*" in the password field
meant to use the user's system password.  That system eliminated the
need for SystemAuth= in CVSROOT/config since you could do the equivalent
of SystemAuth=yes by specifying "*:*" and the end of CVSROOT/passwd and
SystemAuth=no by specifying "*:?" ("?" is an invalid encrypted password,
so nothing the user specifies can ever match).

-Larry Jones

I suppose if I had two X chromosomes, I'd feel hostile too. -- Calvin