Tilde prefix returns invalid home directory.


 
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Operating Systems Solaris Tilde prefix returns invalid home directory.
# 1  
Old 04-03-2014
Question Tilde prefix returns invalid home directory.

I am trying to find the home directory of users on a UNIX (Solaris/AIX) box using
Code:
echo ~username

This does return the home directory for all valid users. For some reason this command also outputs home directory which are non-existent for few users who seem not to have logon access to that server.

For eg. the above command would return below for a non-existent user - /home/username

What I expected was - ~username as the output for a user with no access and that does happen with certain usernames.

This makes me think what could be causing a difference between different users who do not have access to this server. Has this something to do with LDAP?

Nothing I can find in /etc/passwd either.

Last edited by thinkster; 04-03-2014 at 01:42 PM.. Reason: This thread should be moved to a Shell scripting forum as it no more looks to be an issue just with Solaris.
# 2  
Old 04-03-2014
The ~username does the same as a
Code:
getent passwd username

(then prints the home directory field), or
Code:
perl -e 'printf "%s\n", (getpwnam ("username"))[7]'

The getpwnam() is a function of the libc, and normally acts according to the passwd entry in /etc/nsswitch.conf

Last edited by MadeInGermany; 04-04-2014 at 05:42 AM.. Reason: get field#7
# 3  
Old 04-03-2014
Yeah I had tried getent but not sure if Solaris/AIX could get a default home directory from LDAP. How does that work? The reason its not clear is that, it hits a common LDAP and has different behavior for users who are not provided access to the same server(non-existent user). So things are like:

Common LDAP -
--- non-existent user1 - echo ~user1 outputs ~user1
--- non-existent user2 - echo ~user2 - says non-existent user.

Last edited by thinkster; 04-03-2014 at 05:19 PM..
# 4  
Old 04-03-2014
An ldap directory used to authenticate users is storing all fields traditionally found in the /etc/passwd plain file. The home directory is definitely one of them but one should only be returned if there is an entry matching the username requested, unless you have a non standard directory server or a custom plugin.
What says:
Code:
ldaplist -v user1

?
# 5  
Old 04-03-2014
Read the man page of your shell on each OS!
For example
Code:
man bash

under Tilde Expansion
tells that it simply returns the ~user1 if not found.
# 6  
Old 04-03-2014
@MadeInGermany The OP has likely read the manual page as he is expecting the behavior the bash manual is describing.
However, for some reason, he seems to observe inconsistent results.
# 7  
Old 04-04-2014
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlliagre
@MadeInGermany The OP has likely read the manual page as he is expecting the behavior the bash manual is describing.
However, for some reason, he seems to observe inconsistent results.
Because the man pages are different?
A deviation between the shell and its man page would be a bug.
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