Programs knowing "root"

[George Robbins]

In article <619 at ssc-bee.UUCP> bossert at ssc-bee.UUCP (John Bossert) writes:
>Can someone supply me with a list of programs depending on the user
>with uid==0 having the name "root"?  Specifically, I'd like to know
>what would break if I renamed "root" to "mother", for example.  I'm
>primarily concerned with 4.[23] BSD, but the System V information would
>be valuable too.

In System VR1  (at least the Zilog flavor) "root" is compiled into su and init.
The init is a real nut-cruncher, since deleting the "root" entry from
/etc/passwd prevents you from booting up into even single user mode.

The safe thing is two have two entries for "root" in you /etc/passwd file,
the first being the one that the system uses to translate uid 0 to "root",
the second being "root" to satisfy programs that have this hard coded.
The passwords can be identical, or arranged to prevent logins or one or the
other.

This works nicely for system V, but I make no claims about Berkeley.  In the
Zilog case, "zeus" is actually compiled into the programs, but I prefer to
use "root" like any normal unix system.
-- 
George Robbins - now working for,	uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|caip}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing	arpa: cbmvax!grr at seismo.css.GOV
Commodore, Engineering Department	fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)