group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

tommed · 2009-09-14 22:40:38

During the daily cron run (/etc/cron.daily) I get the following error:

group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password field in /etc/group is not set to 'x'

I'm getting a line like above for every user in my system
It's during the grpck which I believe runs from inside the script /etc/cron.daily/shadow.

pwck runs without any errors.

Could anyone suggest how I can go about fixing this please? I have not edited /etc/group or /etc/gshadow by hand!

loafer · 2009-09-15 05:59:17

I think pwck only checks passwd and gshadow, not /etc/group. Try grpck instead. Post a couple of examples of what the entries in /etc/group look like.

Allan · 2009-09-15 06:13:46

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/15707

Leonid.I · 2009-09-15 12:58:29

The bug entry mentions shadow version 4.1.4.1-1. I have 4.1.4.2-1:

{svibor} web_buffer|>>>pacman -Q | grep shadow
shadow 4.1.4.2-1

and still has same messages from cron in the root mailbox...

Do I correctly understand that one needs to put 'x' in the password field in /etc/group to indicate a shadow password and thus get rid of these error messages, i.e.

root::0:root

should become:

root:x:0:root

Right?

Personally I feel that it's wrong to file a bug against this issue: people should not relax and assume their systems just work , but perhaps I'm a bit masochistic...

Leonid

Edit:

1. Sorry, my first comment about shadow package is irrelevant.
2. @tommed:

I'm getting a line like above for every user in my system

I think, you meant group, right?

Last edited by Leonid.I (2009-09-15 13:08:00)

bernarcher · 2009-09-15 14:19:04

Leonid.I wrote:

Do I correctly understand that one needs to put 'x' in the password field in /etc/group to indicate a shadow password

Right.
But better use the system tools available. See e.g. "man gpasswd".

Leonid.I · 2009-09-15 16:22:45

bernarcher wrote:

Leonid.I wrote:
Do I correctly understand that one needs to put 'x' in the password field in /etc/group to indicate a shadow password
Right.
But better use the system tools available. See e.g. "man gpasswd".

Thanks, bernarcher.

I assume that the group file was created using gpasswd (at least, I used it to add new users).
You see, I don't think that the absence of 'x' is a problem of the /etc/group, i.e., both syntax variants (empty or with 'x', or even with '!'??) are ligitimate. The problem is that 'grpck' seems to produce an error whenever the password field contains anything but 'x'. And the irony is that /usr/sbin/grpck belongs to the package shadow! Thus, perhaps a bug should be filed against shadow, not filesystem...

Leonid

loafer · 2009-09-15 16:39:52

According to the details in Allan's post gpasswd cannot be used to fix this.

tony5429 · 2009-10-11 16:33:46

So... what is the latest news on this? I am having the issue on my two servers. Does anyone know how to fix it?

GottaBeKD · 2009-10-14 16:13:10

Use your favorite editor (I like nano) and edit your /etc/group file. You'll notice the original groups are in the format root::0:root, while newer ones are in the format root:x:0:root.

Change any old entries to have the x between the 1st and 2nd colon. This will eliminate this error being presented.

tony5429 · 2009-10-18 05:31:30

It worked - thanks!!

ps. I like nano too

Gen2ly · 2009-12-04 07:22:59

Hmm, anyone else having this problem? Last night, I added 'x' to the password field. When I logged in today I got the message again.

root:x::root
bin:x::root,bin,daemon
daemon:x::root,bin,daemon
...

group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password field in /etc/group is not set to 'x'
group bin has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password field in /etc/group is not set to 'x'
group daemon has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password field in /etc/group is not set to 'x'
...

Did I forget anything?

loafer · 2009-12-04 08:47:45

Did you edit /etc/gshadow or /etc/group? The entry you posted looks like it's from gshadow. It is the group file that is missing the "x".

Gen2ly · 2009-12-04 09:10:26

Ahhhh, wasn't aware that gshadow was spawned from shadow. Thanks loafer, that fixed it.

igol · 2010-03-16 21:47:45

tony5429 wrote:

It worked - thanks!!
ps. I like nano too

Not sure why (late post) but I'm getting the same error. This command in vim adds the 'x's to the /etc/group file in one hit:

:%s/^\([a-z]\+:\):/\1x:

Last edited by igol (2010-03-16 21:48:55)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-09-14 22:40:38

group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#2 2009-09-15 05:59:17

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#3 2009-09-15 06:13:46

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#4 2009-09-15 12:58:29

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#5 2009-09-15 14:19:04

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#6 2009-09-15 16:22:45

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#7 2009-09-15 16:39:52

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#8 2009-10-11 16:33:46

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#9 2009-10-14 16:13:10

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#10 2009-10-18 05:31:30

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#11 2009-12-04 07:22:59

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#12 2009-12-04 08:47:45

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#13 2009-12-04 09:10:26

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

#14 2010-03-16 21:47:45

Re: group root has an entry in /etc/gshadow, but its password /etc/group..

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