Re: Case sensitivity of user/group names (was Re: DBIS commentary)

> 
> > It would seem that the only visible effect of such a configuration is
> > that an attempt to look up a wrong-case name on UNIX would fail, which
> > is compatible in some sense but doesn't seem to really add any value
> > over case-insensitivity.
> 
> I see compatibility with published standards and system documentation as
> being vastly more valuable than catering to typing mistakes, but obviously
> that's just my opinion.
> 
> More importantly, *nix tools and system utilities are going to make case-
> sensitive comparisons of usernames internally, so if your name service
> daemons aren't case-sensitive as well, *nix-based systems are likely to be
> subtly broken.  Comparisons aren't restricted to the LDAP service host, they
> happen on the local OS too - including in site-developed code that was built to
> documented standards.
 
They shouldn't be comparing names but uids/gids. Most tools and file systems do this. As long as the source for look-up is always LDAP for both the client and server and it handles the cases consistently, there should not be any problem. When specifying usernames in configs (like owner on files), it would be nice if case didn't matter.

So I agree with earlier comments that changing usernames that differ only in cases is a onetime pain that can be borne during the transition to LDAP from NIS.

Rgds
Dhairesh

> --Charlie
> 
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