Ubuntu
sysvinit package

sulogin doesn't document behaviour with sudo_root

Bug #58404 reported by Martin Pool
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
sysvinit (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Scott James Remnant (Canonical)

Bug Description

The sulogin manpage says that without the -e option, it requires the root password to be correctly entered. However, in the default ubuntu configuration of having the root password locked, it doesn't prompt for a password at all.

This behaviour is sensible but the manpage ought to be fixed to explain it.

Revision history for this message
Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott) wrote :

Either the sulogin manpage has been changed since this bug was filed (which I can find no reference for), or your description of the text is incorrect.

It describes the -e option as a fallback for getpwnam() and does not conflict with the Ubuntu behaviour (getpwnam would succeed)

Changed in sysvinit:
status: Unconfirmed → Rejected
Revision history for this message
Martin Pool (mbp) wrote :

It says

       sulogin checks the root password using the standard method (getpwnam) first.

In the default Ubuntu setup, I would expect getpwnam to succeed, but return a value indicating root's password is locked. Surely it does not say root has a blank password?

The RootSudo wiki page says that "ubuntu's sulogin is patched to handle the default case of a locked root password". I'm just asking that the manpage be updated to reflect this, e.g.

   In Ubuntu, sulogin is patched so that it allows login without a password if root's password is locked, which is the system default.

Changed in sysvinit:
status: Rejected → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott) wrote :

See, this is why it's important to file a bug correctly, and not get distracted by trivialities :)

If you had filed simply "sulogin manpage should document what happens when root password is locked" then it would have been clear.

Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)
Changed in sysvinit:
assignee: nobody → keybuk
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
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