'ls -n' opens password file for reading
john.g.young
jgy at cbnewsh.ATT.COM
Tue May 16 23:31:19 AEST 1989
Another problem with 'ls' is with nameless userids. Try creating
a few files with userids which don't have entries in the password
file. Use the same userid for each, if your password file is of
a reasonable length you will be treated to a considerable delay
between each line of output as ls parses the entire file for each
output line.
Two possible improvements:
1) ls currently (svr3) remembers the last uid & gid
searched for an SUCCESFULLY found in the /etc/(passwd|group)
file. This "buffer :)" should be enlarged and also include
unfound ids.
2) This would elliviate the need for a larger buffer;
use some kind of database system to speed up access to
the password file (I belive some BSD systems may do this)
and/or keep it in a shared memory segment (locked in core).
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