How to add a user to /etc/passwd using CGI?

[Kempniu]

Hi there,

I was wondering how do all the "free web space" services etc. work -
when one fills in a form, he/she is automatically added to the
system's userlist. How does this work? I mean, how is it possible for
a CGI script to access /etc/passwd without executing `chmod 666
/etc/passwd` first? ;)

And if the users are NOT added to /etc/passwd, then how can they log
in through FTP (e.g. to upload their websites)?

Thanks in advance for any kind of explanation,
Kempniu

[Jason A. Crome]

Re: How to add a user to /etc/passwd using CGI?

The ISP I am familiar with runs all of their user information out of MySQL.
Postfix, qpopper, ProFTPD, Apache, and other services can be patched to use
a set of tables in MySQL. All you would need to do is write a front-end to
populate those tables.

Yes, I have oversimplified this, but a little digging should turn up the
rest of what you need to know ;)

"Kempniu" <lordpopcorn@[cut-this-out]poczta.onet.pl> wrote in message
news:d4js101sun qttjbo2n28q6ejf bd1rakqf5@4ax.c om...[color=blue]
> Hi there,
>
> I was wondering how do all the "free web space" services etc. work -
> when one fills in a form, he/she is automatically added to the
> system's userlist. How does this work? I mean, how is it possible for
> a CGI script to access /etc/passwd without executing `chmod 666
> /etc/passwd` first? ;)
>
> And if the users are NOT added to /etc/passwd, then how can they log
> in through FTP (e.g. to upload their websites)?
>
> Thanks in advance for any kind of explanation,
> Kempniu[/color]