Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ?

From	Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ?
Date	2021-05-05 18:10 +0200
Message-ID	<Cbsg2-1fo-5@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	(3 earlier) <Cbed4-17W-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <CbemJ-1b0-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <CbfC9-1UX-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <CbnT3-6Wz-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <CbrMZ-Qn-3@gated-at.bofh.it>
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On Wed, May 05, 2021 at 10:36:53AM -0500, David Wright wrote:
> OTOH perhaps monkeysphere has some reason to lock /etc/passwd et al
> during operation. Running strings on its binaries might throw up
> some 'pwd.lock' matches. Or one could inotifywatch the program to
> see how often it is run (unless it's a daemon). Just thinking aloud.

I actually looked for that filename in "strings /usr/bin/sudo" and
"strings /usr/sbin/vipw" before Google told me that it's used by those
libc functions (lckpwdf(3) and its buddy ulckpwdf(3)).

It's a bit odd that the man page doesn't contain the filename.  Usually
you'd expect it to.

> One thing I didn't learn is why .pwd.lock is in /etc/ rather than,
> say, /run/lock/. Perhaps related, why are there dotfiles in /etc/
> anyway. (.git/, .java/, .etckeeper, .gitignore are the others.)
> What are they hiding from?

This predates /run by a long time.

Also, presumably, it wants to be in /etc because that's where the file
that it's paired with lives.  Dot-lock files are usually in the same
location as the files they represent.

Why the dot?  So that it doesn't show up in a casual "ls" and cause a
bunch of n00b questions, obviously.

Thread

repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-04 08:20 +0200
  Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Darac Marjal <mailinglist@darac.org.uk> - 2021-05-04 10:10 +0200
    Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-04 10:20 +0200
    Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-04 11:20 +0200
      Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 00:50 +0200
      Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Kushal Kumaran <kushal@locationd.net> - 2021-05-05 03:10 +0200
        Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 03:20 +0200
          Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-05-05 03:40 +0200
          Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 04:40 +0200
          Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-05-05 04:40 +0200
            Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 04:50 +0200
              Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-05-05 05:10 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 05:20 +0200
            Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-05-05 13:30 +0200
              Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 16:00 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Jonathan Dowland <jon+debian-user@dow.land> - 2021-05-08 09:30 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-09 05:10 +0200
              Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-05-05 17:40 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 18:00 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-05-05 18:10 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-05 21:30 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-05-06 05:30 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Charles Curley <charlescurley@charlescurley.com> - 2021-05-06 04:50 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? davidson <davidson@freevolt.org> - 2021-05-06 16:00 +0200
                OT: dotfile generalities (was Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock  ?) davidson <davidson@freevolt.org> - 2021-05-06 16:40 +0200
                Re: OT: dotfile generalities (was Re: repeated system mail,  /etc/.pwd.lock ?) Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-05-06 16:50 +0200
                Re: OT: dotfile generalities (was Re: repeated system mail,  /etc/.pwd.lock ?) David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-05-07 06:30 +0200
                Re: OT: dotfile generalities (was Re: repeated system mail,  /etc/.pwd.lock ?) <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-05-07 09:40 +0200
                Re: OT: dotfile generalities (was Re: repeated system mail,  /etc/.pwd.lock ?) Tixy <tixy@yxit.co.uk> - 2021-05-07 10:50 +0200
                Re: OT: dotfile generalities (was Re: repeated system mail,  /etc/.pwd.lock ?) <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-05-07 11:20 +0200
              Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-05-09 06:20 +0200
                Re: repeated system mail, /etc/.pwd.lock ? Emanuel Berg <moasenwood@zoho.eu> - 2021-05-09 12:00 +0200

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