Brent Clark wrote:
>
> mail:~# cat /etc/passwd | grep -i uucp
> uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/bin/sh mail:~#
>
> So my question is, for the Debian distobution, would it be safe to
> delete this user, or would anyone have another solution to this
> problem.
Debian-specific questions should be directed to the debian exim list,
which is documented in /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/README.Debian.gz.
However, in general, it is not safe to delete users or groups with IDs
less than 1000 on a debian system; they're system users, and owned by
installed packages. Using, upgrading, or removing those packages could
break if you manually delete the users. In particular, IDs in the 0-99
range (such as uucp) are owned by base-files, and any package is allowed
to assume that those users exist without checking, so deleting a user in
that range could have wide-ranging effects. See the policy manual for
details:
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s9.2
For a more general solution to this problem on debian, see this bug:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=307768
In particular, look for the reject_system_uids router I describe near
the middle of the bug report. Pay attention to the discussion of the
real_local router just above it.
- Marc
