libuuid & NIS mess

After updating to 8.04 LTS you'll better check your /etc/passwd

If you have new 'daemon users' there with UID larger than any of your NIS exported users, you're likely to get in trouble. In mine, I got a new "user" called libuuid with an UID 517.

On each machine in your network (including the server):

• As root modify the UID for libuuid from 517 to 499 ("First NIS UID" -1)
• chown -R libuuid:libuuid /var/lib/libuuid

This is tedious work if you have more than a few machines. I'm considering to re-ID my users instead, since it seems that UID starting at 1000 instead of 500 (as it used to be ages ago) has become widely adopted.

Re-id'ing a daemon is bound to lead to issues - if not sooner then at least at next update.

This issue possibly affects GDM and the list of users visible in the face-browser too.

References:
http://linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl3_libuuid.htm

Upgrading from Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Back-up all you data before proceeding.

# Prepare you system before the actual upgrade

lsb_release -a
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

# If running remotely, don't use ssh. See the previous tips for adding telnet to your mashine.
# The continue with the following lines (if logged in physically, skip following two cammands):
export DISPLAY=www.xxx.yyy.zzz

# On remote mashine
xhost +



# The following command opens a front-end. First press the button "check", then wait a few seconds, a button
"Upgrade to 8.04 LTS" should apear, press it and follow the instructions

sudo update-manager -d


# In case process breaks, you can try:
dpkg --configure -a

# Re-boot, check version again
lsb_release -a


References:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading#head-db224ea9add28760e373240f8239afb9b817f197

Adding telnetd to xinted

Install the package telnetd


sudo apt-get install telnetd


Copy the following to the file /etc/xintet.d/telnet


# description: An xinetd internal telnet service
service telnet
{
# port = 23
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.telnetd
server_args = -h
}