sorted /etc/passwd?

[lorne at uokvax.UUCP]

Yes, we do have a hashed passwd file. We have had (and I don't think
this is much to brag about) up to 3000 user accounts on an 11/70. We
also run about 1000 accounts on a VAX 11/780 and use the same hashing
scheme there. This code was originally written back in the V6 days, and
has been modified to run on every version we've had since then (V7,
2.Xbsd, 4.Xbsd).

As an explanation of how this works, we have a file called u-seek,
this is a copy of the password file that allows you to seek into it
using the uid.  Another file called p-seek, is the same as the u-seek
file but for encryted passwords. To complete the set we have two other
files, u-hash and sid-hash that allow you to come up with the uid by
hashing either the login name or the Student ID number.  There is a set
of maintence programs that keep these files up to date. We also have
our own newusr and mkclass programs that create accounts and a rmusr
program that destroys accounts. We have completely re-written all the
getpwent(3) routines so that they use the above files. It also requires
changing or putting mods into every command that parses the passwd
file, a short list of these would include login, passwd, finger, ls.

Good points:
1. Since we regularly run 30-40 people at once on the 11/70 it decreases
login time dramaticly. It used to take up to 5 minutes to log in.
2. It speeds up all the programs that access the passwd file, ls in particular
was horribly slow with a large passwd file.

Bad points:
1. A person can only have one account. Specifically one login name per
uid.
2. There is alot of overhead in keeping all these files up to date. Basicly
it is much more difficult to make random changes to the passwd file.
3. We have never distributed this stuff before. If you wanted it, you
would be the first, and there are some problems associated with that.

We would be glad to help out anyone who wanted a copy of it. Send
mail to me for more information.

					Lorne Wilson
					University of Oklahoma
					...ctvax!uokvax!lorne