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2 <!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
4 <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
8 <sect1 id="ch-tools-createfiles">
9 <?dbhtml filename="createfiles.html"?>
11 <title>Creating Essential Files and Symlinks</title>
13 <indexterm zone="ch-tools-createfiles">
14 <primary sortas="e-/etc/passwd">/etc/passwd</primary>
17 <indexterm zone="ch-tools-createfiles">
18 <primary sortas="e-/etc/group">/etc/group</primary>
21 <indexterm zone="ch-tools-createfiles">
22 <primary sortas="e-/var/run/utmp">/var/run/utmp</primary>
25 <indexterm zone="ch-tools-createfiles">
26 <primary sortas="e-/var/log/btmp">/var/log/btmp</primary>
29 <indexterm zone="ch-tools-createfiles">
30 <primary sortas="e-/var/log/lastlog">/var/log/lastlog</primary>
33 <indexterm zone="ch-tools-createfiles">
34 <primary sortas="e-/var/log/wtmp">/var/log/wtmp</primary>
37 <para>Historically, Linux maintains a list of the mounted file systems in the
38 file <filename>/etc/mtab</filename>. Modern kernels maintain this list
39 internally and exposes it to the user via the <filename
40 class="directory">/proc</filename> filesystem. To satisfy utilities that
41 expect the presence of <filename>/etc/mtab</filename>, create the following
44 <screen><userinput>ln -sv /proc/self/mounts /etc/mtab</userinput></screen>
46 <para>In order for user <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> to be
47 able to login and for the name <quote>root</quote> to be recognized, there
48 must be relevant entries in the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and
49 <filename>/etc/group</filename> files.</para>
51 <para>Create the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> file by running the following
54 <screen revision="sysv"><userinput>cat > /etc/passwd << "EOF"
55 <literal>root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
56 bin:x:1:1:bin:/dev/null:/bin/false
57 daemon:x:6:6:Daemon User:/dev/null:/bin/false
58 messagebus:x:18:18:D-Bus Message Daemon User:/var/run/dbus:/bin/false
59 nobody:x:99:99:Unprivileged User:/dev/null:/bin/false</literal>
60 EOF</userinput></screen>
62 <screen revision="systemd"><userinput>cat > /etc/passwd << "EOF"
63 <literal>root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
64 bin:x:1:1:bin:/dev/null:/bin/false
65 daemon:x:6:6:Daemon User:/dev/null:/bin/false
66 messagebus:x:18:18:D-Bus Message Daemon User:/var/run/dbus:/bin/false
67 systemd-bus-proxy:x:72:72:systemd Bus Proxy:/:/bin/false
68 systemd-journal-gateway:x:73:73:systemd Journal Gateway:/:/bin/false
69 systemd-journal-remote:x:74:74:systemd Journal Remote:/:/bin/false
70 systemd-journal-upload:x:75:75:systemd Journal Upload:/:/bin/false
71 systemd-network:x:76:76:systemd Network Management:/:/bin/false
72 systemd-resolve:x:77:77:systemd Resolver:/:/bin/false
73 systemd-timesync:x:78:78:systemd Time Synchronization:/:/bin/false
74 systemd-coredump:x:79:79:systemd Core Dumper:/:/bin/false
75 nobody:x:99:99:Unprivileged User:/dev/null:/bin/false</literal>
76 EOF</userinput></screen>
78 <para>The actual password for <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem>
79 will be set later.</para>
81 <para>Create the <filename>/etc/group</filename> file by running the following
84 <screen revision="sysv"><userinput>cat > /etc/group << "EOF"
108 users:x:999:</literal>
109 EOF</userinput></screen>
111 <screen revision="systemd"><userinput>cat > /etc/group << "EOF"
130 systemd-journal:x:23:
134 systemd-bus-proxy:x:72:
135 systemd-journal-gateway:x:73:
136 systemd-journal-remote:x:74:
137 systemd-journal-upload:x:75:
138 systemd-network:x:76:
139 systemd-resolve:x:77:
140 systemd-timesync:x:78:
141 systemd-coredump:x:79:
144 users:x:999:</literal>
145 EOF</userinput></screen>
147 <para>The created groups are not part of any standard—they are groups
148 decided on in part by the requirements of the Udev configuration in Chapter
149 9, and in part by common convention employed by a number of existing Linux
150 distributions. In addition, some test suites rely on specific users or
151 groups. The Linux Standard Base (LSB, available at <ulink
152 url="http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/lsb.shtml"/>) only recommends that,
153 besides the group <systemitem class="groupname">root</systemitem> with a
154 Group ID (GID) of 0, a group <systemitem class="groupname">bin</systemitem>
155 with a GID of 1 be present. All other group names and GIDs can be chosen
156 freely by the system administrator since well-written programs do not depend
157 on GID numbers, but rather use the group's name.</para>
159 <para>Some tests in <xref linkend="chapter-building-system"/> need a regular
160 user. We add this user here and delete this account at the end of that
163 <screen><userinput>echo "tester:x:$(ls -n $(tty) | cut -d" " -f3):101::/home/tester:/bin/bash" >> /etc/passwd
164 echo "tester:x:101:" >> /etc/group
165 install -o tester -d /home/tester</userinput></screen>
167 <para>To remove the <quote>I have no name!</quote> prompt, start a new
169 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and <filename>/etc/group</filename>
170 files have been created, user name and group name resolution will now
173 <screen role="nodump"><userinput>exec /bin/bash --login +h</userinput></screen>
175 <para>Note the use of the <parameter>+h</parameter> directive. This tells
176 <command>bash</command> not to use its internal path hashing. Without this
177 directive, <command>bash</command> would remember the paths to binaries it has
178 executed. To ensure the use of the newly compiled binaries as soon as they are
179 installed, the <parameter>+h</parameter> directive will be used for the duration
180 of this and the next chapter.</para>
182 <para>The <command>login</command>, <command>agetty</command>, and
183 <command>init</command> programs (and others) use a number of log
184 files to record information such as who was logged into the system and
185 when. However, these programs will not write to the log files if they
186 do not already exist. Initialize the log files and give them
187 proper permissions:</para>
189 <screen><userinput>touch /var/log/{btmp,lastlog,faillog,wtmp}
190 chgrp -v utmp /var/log/lastlog
191 chmod -v 664 /var/log/lastlog
192 chmod -v 600 /var/log/btmp</userinput></screen>
194 <para>The <filename>/var/log/wtmp</filename> file records all logins and
195 logouts. The <filename>/var/log/lastlog</filename> file records when each
196 user last logged in. The <filename>/var/log/faillog</filename> file records
197 failed login attempts. The <filename>/var/log/btmp</filename> file records
198 the bad login attempts.</para>
200 <note><para>The <filename>/run/utmp</filename> file records the users that
201 are currently logged in. This file is created dynamically in the boot
202 scripts.</para></note>