[rhelv6-list] maximum member unix group in /etc/group

Iain Morrison Iain.Morrison at mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
Thu Dec 1 19:17:47 UTC 2011


Hi Jason,
  we had this problem with groups in NIS under RHEL4, and whilst it may
be a bug in RHEL 6.1 the workaround we use might work for you.

[The length of one entry is limited by the NIS protocol to 1024
characters.]


-------------------

There is another way of solving this problem for /etc/group entries.
This idea is from Ken Cameron:

1. Break the entry into more than one line and name each group
   slightly differently.

2. Keep the GID the same for all.

3. Have the first entry with the right group name and the GID.
   I don't put any user names in this one.

What happens is that going by user name you pick up the GID when the
code
reads it. Then going the other way it stops after the first match of GID
and takes that name. It's ugly but works!

------------------------

so for example we have

largegroup:x:1234:
largegroup1:x:1234:uname01,uname02,...
largegroup2:x:1234:uname31,uname31,...
largegroup3:x:1234:uname61,uname61,...
largegroup4:x:1234:
largegroup5:x:1234:

thanks

iain


--

Iain Morrison
IT Manager
MRC Epidemiology Unit
Institute of Metabolic Science
Box 285
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 0QQ
Tel 01223 769200

-----Original Message-----
From: rhelv6-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:rhelv6-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Jason Keltz
Sent: 01 December 2011 18:08
To: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) discussion mailing-list
Subject: [rhelv6-list] maximum member unix group in /etc/group

Under RHEL4, as far as I can see, there was no limitation in unix group 
size in /etc/group in terms of line lengths or number of users, or at 
least I never came close to hitting the limit.  Under RHEL6.1, I hit the

limit today - 126 members.  It's not clear if this is a bug or a 
feature, or why such a limitation would be imposed.  It's possible that 
it was imposed by a patch, but after applying many patches, it's not 
clear which would have caused it.  Any ideas???

Jason.

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