pwck errors

[jankom]

Hello,

After most recent eix-sinc and emerge -avuND @world there was a warning for the package sys-apps/shadow-4.14.8-r1. Ran command from terminal as the message instructed:

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	andraslinux /home/janos # pwck
	user 'adm': directory '/var/adm' does not exist
	user 'lp': directory '/var/spool/lpd' does not exist
	user 'news': directory '/var/spool/news' does not exist
	user 'uucp': directory '/var/spool/uucp' does not exist
	pwck: no changes
	andraslinux /home/janos # 

This was the same situation with my other Gentoo installation (a remote, virtual server from Akamai linode, no gui).
Why are these errors?
How can I fix them?
Why or do I need users 'adm' 'lp' 'news' and 'uucp' together with the missing directories?

Both of my machines work fine, I'm just curious, and would like a clean system. Maybe I was overzealous and deleted their directories?

Regards,

jankom (Janos)

[Zucca]

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DESCRIPTION
       The pwck command verifies the integrity of the users and
       authentication information. It checks that all entries in
       /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow have the proper format and contain valid
       data. The user is prompted to delete entries that are improperly
       formatted or which have other uncorrectable errors.

       Checks are made to verify that each entry has:

       •   the correct number of fields

       •   a unique and valid user name

       •   a valid user and group identifier

       •   a valid primary group

       •   a valid home directory

       •   a valid login shell

       Checks for shadowed password information are enabled when the second
       file parameter SHADOWFILE is specified or when /etc/shadow exists on
       the system.

       These checks are the following:

       •   every passwd entry has a matching shadow entry, and every shadow
           entry has a matching passwd entry

       •   passwords are specified in the shadowed file

       •   shadow entries have the correct number of fields

       •   shadow entries are unique in shadow

       •   the last password changes are not in the future

       The checks for correct number of fields and unique user name are
       fatal. If the entry has the wrong number of fields, the user will be
       prompted to delete the entire line. If the user does not answer
       affirmatively, all further checks are bypassed. An entry with a
       duplicated user name is prompted for deletion, but the remaining
       checks will still be made. All other errors are warnings and the
       user is encouraged to run the usermod command to correct the error.

       The commands which operate on the /etc/passwd file are not able to
       alter corrupted or duplicated entries.  pwck should be used in those
       circumstances to remove the offending entry.

Most notably the line

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       •   a valid home directory

... so it just seems to notify you that those users don't have existing home directories.

You should check if those users are there for some reason. Nowdays system users and groups are being created by acct-user and acct-group package categories.

[jankom]

Yes. I have recreated those directory, and no more error.

However, do I need those users? What if I just delete them? Are they part of standard Gentoo "Profile 3 default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop (stable)"?

jankom

[Zucca]

I cannot answer that.
Probably not if you don't have corresponding acct-user/<username> installed.