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* [Bug libc/430] New: nsswitch.conf doesn't support TRYAGAIN=forever, giving bogus results when NIS is not responding
@ 2004-10-07 15:00 matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
  2005-09-26 14:58 ` [Bug libc/430] " drepper at redhat dot com
                   ` (14 more replies)
  0 siblings, 15 replies; 21+ messages in thread
From: matthias dot andree at gmx dot de @ 2004-10-07 15:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: glibc-bugs

The nsswitch.conf mechanism doesn't support a TRYAGAIN=forever switch which is
necessary to properly support NIS and similar services with the limited getpw*()
interface.

Problem: an application calling getpwnam() has no means to detect that it got
NULL because NIS was failed (NIS server dropped dead, whatever), which is a
temporary failure, rather than because the user was nonexistent.

Consequences: applications can wreak havoc if they are told "no such user" when
in fact the user exists but the information was temporarily unavailable. The
result may be that mail bounces, with the computer claiming the addressee were
non-existent, users being unsubscribed from mailing lists, users being unable to
log in and similar.

Suggested fix: Add an option TRYAGAIN=forever for nsswitch.conf that lets it
spin on the service that returned TRYAGAIN until it returns some different
condition, and make it the default for services such as nis that can exhibit
this problem. This will avoid returning temporary results.

Cross-Reference:
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=bin/46866

-- 
           Summary: nsswitch.conf doesn't support TRYAGAIN=forever, giving
                    bogus results when NIS is not responding
           Product: glibc
           Version: 2.3.3
            Status: NEW
          Severity: critical
          Priority: P2
         Component: libc
        AssignedTo: gotom at debian dot or dot jp
        ReportedBy: matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
                CC: glibc-bugs at sources dot redhat dot com
  GCC host triplet: i686-suse-linux


http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=430

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 21+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2014-05-28 21:39 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 21+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
     [not found] <bug-430-131@http.sourceware.org/bugzilla/>
2011-06-08  9:11 ` [Bug libc/430] nsswitch.conf doesn't support TRYAGAIN=forever, giving bogus results when NIS is not responding matthias.andree at gmx dot de
2011-06-08  9:12 ` matthias.andree at gmx dot de
2012-02-21  1:20 ` [Bug nis/430] " jsm28 at gcc dot gnu.org
2014-02-16 19:30 ` jackie.rosen at hushmail dot com
2014-05-28 19:46 ` schwab at sourceware dot org
2014-05-28 21:39 ` jpyeron at pdinc dot us
2004-10-07 15:00 [Bug libc/430] New: " matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2005-09-26 14:58 ` [Bug libc/430] " drepper at redhat dot com
2006-01-12 16:59 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2006-01-12 17:03 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2006-04-19  8:45 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2006-04-22 17:57 ` drepper at redhat dot com
2006-04-23 14:49 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2006-04-25 17:58 ` drepper at redhat dot com
2006-12-07 14:11 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2007-02-18  4:02 ` drepper at redhat dot com
2007-02-18 12:41 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2007-02-18 12:45 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2007-02-19  1:29 ` fche at redhat dot com
2007-02-19  1:42 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de
2010-06-01  3:11 ` pasky at suse dot cz
2010-06-01  8:20 ` matthias dot andree at gmx dot de

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